Births, Deaths and Marriages - Regulatory Impact Statement


Option 3 - Remake the Existing Regulation and Restructure the Fees (the Proposed Regulation)

10. OPTION 3 - The proposed Regulation (preferred option)

The proposed Regulation prescribes fees for services provided by the Registry, primarily undertaking searches and providing certificates of individual events and registering changes of name and parentage information; and prescribes the particulars to be provided to enable the compulsory registration and/or notification of events (births, deaths, marriages, changes of name and changes of sex) in compliance with the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1995.

The proposed Regulation will increase fees for most services and will introduce a fee for recording a change of sex in the Register.

The proposed fee increases are generally based upon the cumulative effect of increases in the Consumer Price Index from the last fee increase on 1 September 1996 to 30 June 2001. (The cumulative CPI increase for this period is 11.5%.)

Under the proposed Regulation, the cost of obtaining a certificate (including a 10 year search of the Register) will increase from $26 to $29 and the cost of obtaining a certificate where the Registration Number is quoted (family history certificate) will increase from $20 to $22.50. It is relevant to note that as a result of the Registry’s project to place Indexes of Information held by the Registry on the internet, more people have been able to check the Registration Number of a particular event and so are able to obtain a certificate at the lower price.

A new fee of $50 is being introduced to record a change of sex in the Register. This is consistent with fees that are charged for recording a change of name or a change to particulars of a parent.

The proposed Regulation will maintain current requirements to provide specific information about births, deaths, marriages and other events.

Costs

The costs of remaking the Regulation with revised fees would mean that:

The Registry’s clients would pay between $2 and $5 more for services that they currently receive and a new fee of $50 would be imposed for registering a change of sex.

Benefits

The benefits of remaking the Regulation with revised fees would mean that:

There would be certainty that fees are being imposed equitably and that users of the Registry are contributing to a greater extent to the cost of providing its services;

The Registry would be able to continue to fund its activities which are prescribed under legislation;

The Registry would be able to continue with its practice of not charging fees to register new births, deaths and marriages;

The Registry would be able to continue its program of developing new client service initiatives including an expansion of the on-line services and the development of the national service network;

The Registry would be able to continue its efforts to improve the security and integrity of the database and continue to ensure that the risks of fraud and identity theft are minimised; and

People would still be required to provide information to the Registry and the integrity of the Registers would be maintained.

Conclusion

The proposed Regulation will ensure that the Registry’s clients contribute, in a fair, equitable and consistent manner, to the cost of accessing the Registry’s services. It will enable the Registry to invest in the future development and security of the database. It will also ensure that people continue to be provided with information and it will mean that the integrity of the Register is maintained.