Identification sought for future record seekers
By Tim O?Connell
Our ability to access records of hatches, matches and despatches just got a little bit tougher. From January 25, the law requires anyone ordering a birth, death, marriage, civil union or name change certificate to provide sufficient evidence of their identity before they are entitled to access the information. The changes have been introduced by the Department of Internal affairs as a way to prevent New Zealanders from having their own or their families details handed to inappropriate parties. According to Registrar-General Brian Clarke, the laws have been implemented to ensure that such data is placed in the right hands. ?While maintaining public access to the registers, these new requirements also provide better safeguards for people?s personal information,? Currently, when applying for a certificate or related products people sign a written statement saying that the information they are providing is true and correct. The statement must also be signed by a person of standing in the community, such as a Kaumatua or a Justice of the Peace. However, the rules are only applicable to those requesting recent records, with certificates and related products for older historical records not needing a verification of identity. By definition, the historical records exempted by the law change include births occurring over 100 years ago, deaths that occurred over 50 years ago and marriages that took place over 80 years ago. This ensures that those searching for the last link in their family tree will remain unhindered in their search for genealogical data.
