The Government is clamping down on access to birth, death and marriage certificates to try to make identity fraud more difficult.
The Births, Deaths, Marriages and Relationships Amendment Bill tabled in Parliament yesterday restricts public access to certificates.
At the moment any member of the public can obtain
the registered information of virtually anyone else and the Government is anticipating that family historians and genealogists will be unhappy with the proposals.
Under the bill's provisions a person would be able to access his or her own birth records, those of an immediate family member, or someone born more than 100 years ago.
But for anyone else's details, authorisation would be needed from the person concerned.
Special provisions allow the police, the Security Intelligence Service and other officials to access the records.
The proposed tighter controls follow concerns about the ease of access to official records and how that might aid identity fraud.
The bill's commentary notes that the changes would enhance privacy and make it more difficult for certain types of identity fraud to be committed.
People would no longer be able to order certificates over the telephone, and the price of the documents is likely to be increased.
The bill's notes say that the restrictions "will impact on family historians and genealogists, and are likely to be contentious".
At present these groups buy most of the printouts obtained from the registers.
Provisions to protect the identities of police officers, witnesses, and people associated with the SIS are also contained in the bill.
It allows the Registrar-General, with ministerial approval, to create completely new identity information.
The bill also proposes an information-matching programme to help record the 6000 or so births that are not registered each year.
The Registrar-General would be able to obtain address information for a child's mother from the Ministry of Social Development.
Penalties for offences will also be increased.
