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Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Act 2021

Registrar-General and registry - Offices

126: Registrar-General may delegate functions, duties, and powers to Registrars

You could also call this:

"The Registrar-General can give some jobs to Registrars to help with their work."

Illustration for Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Act 2021

You need to know that the Registrar-General can give some of their jobs to Registrars. The Registrar-General can choose people to be Registrars. These people must be appointed according to the Public Service Act 2020 if they will be working in the public service. You can be a Registrar if the Registrar-General chooses you. The Registrar-General can give you some of their jobs, but not all of them. They cannot give you the job of registering births that are more than two years old. The Registrar-General also cannot give you the job of deciding whether to register certain names. They cannot give you the job of deciding whether to register a person's nominated sex. You can do your job as a Registrar in the same way as the Registrar-General. If you are a Registrar, people will assume you are doing your job correctly unless they have evidence that you are not. When the law talks about the Registrar-General, it also means the people they have given jobs to. This means you can do the jobs you have been given as if the law had given them to you directly.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM7273775.

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125: Deputy Registrar-General, or

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127: Registrar-General’s powers of inquiry in relation to information recorded in registry, or

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Part 5Registrar-General and registry
Offices

126Registrar-General may delegate functions, duties, and powers to Registrars

  1. There must be appointed the number of persons as Registrars as is necessary for the purposes of this Act or any other Act under which Registrars exercise functions.

  2. Appointments under subsection (1) must,—

  3. in the case of persons who on their appointment will become employed in the public service, be in accordance with the Public Service Act 2020; and
    1. in every other case, be made by the Registrar-General specifying—
      1. the name of the person appointed; or
        1. an office whose holder for the time being is to hold the appointment.

        2. The Registrar-General may, either generally or particularly, delegate to any Registrar, in writing, any of the Registrar-General’s functions, duties, and powers under this Act or any other Act other than any of the following powers:

        3. a power under section 16(1)(b) to register births notified more than 2 years after birth:
          1. a power under section 18(2) or 71(2) to decline to register certain names:
            1. a power under section 26 to decline to register a person’s nominated sex if not satisfied certain requirements are met:
              1. a power under section 97(3) to authorise a search for, or provide access to, information requested by a department or an organisation if it is in the public interest or a named person’s interest:
                1. a power under section 106, 107, or 108 to provide access to restricted information in certain circumstances:
                  1. a power under section 131(b), (c), or (e) to correct errors in the registry other than clerical errors:
                    1. a power to delegate under this section.

                      1. A Registrar to whom a duty or power is delegated may perform the duty or exercise the power in the same manner and with the same effect as if the duty or power had been conferred directly by this Act, subject to any general or special directions given by or conditions imposed by the Registrar-General.

                      2. A Registrar who appears to act under a delegation is presumed to be acting in accordance with its terms in the absence of evidence to the contrary.

                      3. Any reference in this Act or regulations to the Registrar-General includes a reference to the delegate in respect of anything delegated to that person.

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