Failure to register births within 7 days to be met with MVR 10,000 fine

North Henveiru MP Ibrahim Muizzu has presented a bill to the Parliament drafted by the government to enable failure to punish births within seven days to be punishable with an MVR 10,000 fine.

The bill states that applications must be filed with the local council of the city or island to which a child is born to register their birth within seven days they are born.

The bill states that submission of midwives’ form is sufficient as proof of application for birth registration.

The bill also states that the registration of the birth of children born overseas must be conducted in accordance of regulations of the country to which they are born to, that an official document regarding their birth must be obtained, and that if the child is born to a family that normally resides in Maldives, the birth must be registered in Maldives within seven days the child arrives in the country.

If a child is born to a Maldivian national who resides overseas, application for registration of the birth must be filed in Maldives within six months the birth is registered in the country to which the child is born.

Meanwhile, application for birth certificate must be filed within six months a child is born, for all children born in Maldives and all children born to a Maldivian national residing overseas.

The bill prescribes an MVR 10,000 fine for failure to submit the application for birth registration and birth certificate within the given time frame.

The current Birth and Death Registration Act, enacted in 1992, states that application for birth certificate for children born in Maldives must be submitted within seven working days. It also prescribes an MVR 5 fine and a cumulative fine of MVR 1 per working day for failure to submit the midwives’ form for birth registration.