Births and Deaths Registration Act 1926

7 Registration of still-births

(1) The birth of every still-born child shall be registered by the registrar in a register of still-births containing the heads of information prescribed in the First Schedule to this Act.

(2) In the case of every still-birth, it shall, unless there has been an inquest, be the duty of the person who would, if the child had been born alive, have been required by the Births and Deaths Registration Acts, 1836 to 1901, to give information concerning the birth, to give information to the registrar of the particulars required to be registered concerning the still-birth; and every such person upon giving information shall either—

(i) deliver to the registrar a written certificate that the child was not born alive, signed by a registered medical practitioner or certified midwife who was in attendance at the birth or who has examined the body of such child; or

(ii) make a declaration in the prescribed form to the effect that no registered medical practitioner or certified midwife was present at the birth, or has examined the body, or that his or her certificate cannot be obtained and that the child was not born alive.

(3) Subject to the provisions of this Act, and subject to the prescribed exceptions, the provisions of the Births and Deaths Registration Acts, 1836 to 1901, shall apply to the registration and entry of a still-birth as they apply to the registration or entry of the birth of a child born alive.

(4) The registrar upon registering a still-birth shall, if so required, give, either to the person giving information concerning the still-birth or to the person who has control over or who ordinarily buries bodies in a burial ground in which it is intended to bury the still-born child, a certificate under his hand in the prescribed form that he has registered the still-birth, but may, on receiving written notice of a still-birth accompanied by a certificate given by a registered medical practitioner or certified midwife under the foregoing provisions of this section, before registering the still-birth give to the person sending the notice a certificate that he has received notice of the still-birth, and any certificate given under this subsection shall be given without fee.