Amendments to birth certificates

• Renames to ‘National Birth Certificate’ 
• New format will not include religion, but will retain ethnicity of parents

The Registrar General’s Department yesterday said that National Birth Certificate designed has not yet been made public and is planned to be issued on completion of the relevant procedures.

“The National Birth Certificate introduced in 2019 has been designed to meet national and international standards with the most secure strategies and international standards while eliminating the shortcomings of the former birth certificate,” Registrar General N.C. Withanage said in a statement.

In the future it will be known as the ‘National Birth Certificate’ instead of the Birth Certificate and will be prepared bilingually on a safety paper that will be processed digitally, issued under the signature of the Registrar General. This will also include the identity number given at birth.

The new format of the National Birth Certificate will not include details about religion, but will retain the ethnicity of the parents. 

The Registrar General’s Department hopes to issue the National Birth Certificate in future after the completion of all legal procedures.