News of the legislation in the field of registration of acts of civil status

In pursuance of the instructions of the Head of State to transfer public services into electronic format, the Ministry of Justice is actively working.

In this regard, on November 25 this year, the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan signed the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Amendments and Additions to Certain Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the Provision of Public Services", initiated by the deputies of the Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

In order to optimize public services in the field of civil registration, amendments have been made to more than 50 articles of the Marriage (Matrimony) and Family Code (hereinafter - the Code).

The main goal of the changes is to simplify the procedure for registering acts of civil status, eliminate the reclamation of unnecessary documents, significantly reduce the time for the provision of public services, protect the rights and interests of children.

In particular, the state registration of adoption (adoption) and the establishment of paternity, as well as the registration of such types of acts as divorce on the basis of a court decision, were canceled.

For example, if at present the spouses must dissolve the marriage through the court, and then apply to the Civil Registry Office to obtain a certificate, then according to the changes, from the moment the court decision enters into legal force, a mark on the dissolution of marriage will be automatically made in the record of the marriage act and removed the need to obtain a certificate. Now citizens are exempt from the need to visit the civil registry office.

In order to preserve the secrecy of the family, the secrecy of adoption, the origin of the child, guaranteed by the Constitution and the Code, sections of the state registration of establishing paternity, state registration of adoption (adoption) are excluded. At the same time, data on the identity of the child and his parents are indicated only in the birth certificate.

Now, when adopting or establishing paternity, a child is issued 2 certificates - adoption or establishment of paternity and a birth certificate. According to the new changes, in order to destroy unnecessary documents, by simplifying the procedure, both for citizens and for the registering authority, only a birth certificate is issued to a child.

Now, for the convenience of citizens, the state service for registering all types of civil status acts, making amendments, corrections and additions to them, restoring and canceling act records, obtaining repeated certificates and certificates is provided on an extraterritorial basis.

For example, in case of loss of documents, a citizen can apply to any registering authority, regardless of the place of birth, where he lives, and receive a repeated birth certificate.

The need for citizens to submit documents to state bodies that can be obtained from information systems (court decisions, medical certificates, information on registered acts in the Republic of Kazakhstan, etc.) has been eliminated.

At the choice of parents, the possibility of proactive registration of births by means of SMS-messages is legally regulated.

At the same time, if a child was born in a maternity hospital, the child must be issued a birth certificate independently, even if there is no document proving the mother's identity.

The list of documents that can be the basis for registering the birth of children born abroad has been expanded. To date, information about the birth of a child born abroad is not available in information systems, since the birth certificate was issued by foreign registration authorities.

In this regard, if the parents of the child want to issue a birth certificate in Kazakhstan, then at their request, it is enough to contact the registration authority and submit a birth certificate issued abroad (if necessary, affixed or legalized with an apostille seal). A new birth certificate is issued indicating the actual place of birth of the child.

For example, if a child was born in Uzbekistan, parents can present a birth certificate to the registration authority and receive a birth certificate in Kazakhstan, where Uzbekistan will be indicated as the child's place of birth. It should be noted that apostille or legalization of documents issued in the CIS countries is not required.

This novelty will allow citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan, who were born abroad, to receive full-fledged public services in relation to their children: queuing up in preschool educational organizations, registering with a healthcare organization, receiving benefits, removing the debt burden, etc.

At the same time, in information systems, it is possible to determine family relations with parents, in case of loss of a certificate or its damage, obtain a new one at will in any registering authority, without sending a request to the place of birth.

In addition, if parents want to assign a double name to a child and if his name is spelled with a hyphen and a double name of the father, then the ability to correctly write the middle name through a hyphen is introduced.

If the mother is raising the child herself, then when the child reaches the age of sixteen, at her discretion, she wants to change the surname to the mother's surname (without changing the child's patronymic), a change to the mother's surname is provided.

Currently, the relatives of the deceased must apply to the registration authority for a death certificate. When a tragic situation occurs in a family, relatives cannot appear at the registering authority, or there are cases when the deceased has no relatives at all.

In order to optimally resolve this issue, if the application for registration of the deed of death has not been received within 3 days, the possibility of registration on the basis of a medical certificate or a court decision has been introduced for the registering authority. If necessary, relatives can receive ready-made documents through the e-government portal, Public Service Centers or, if desired, from the registering authority.

Summing up the results of the speech, changes in the civil registry office will significantly reduce the time and financial costs of the population and transfer public services to a more digital format.