### Marriage Reform Ordinance 《婚姻制度改革條例》

10. Power of Registrar
(1) Upon receipt of an application under section 9 for the registration of a customary marriage or a validated marriage, the Registrar may—
(a) summon before him any applicant, any alleged party to the marriage and any person alleged to have been present at the marriage, and may require any person so summoned to answer such questions as the Registrar may ask for the purpose of determining the application before him; 
(b) require any applicant to furnish such further information either by statutory declaration or otherwise as he may reasonably require. 
(2) Any person who, without lawful excuse, fails to comply with a summons or requirement issued or made under subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to a fine at level 1 and to imprisonment for 6 months. (Amended L.N. 25 of 1996)

11. Effect of certificate of marriage registered under this Part
A certificate of marriage registered under this Part, or a copy of such a certificate, shall if it purports to be signed and certified as a true copy by the Registrar and to be sealed or stamped with his official seal be admissible as evidence of the marriage to which it relates in any court and before any person having by law or by consent of parties authority to hear, receive, and examine evidence.

12. Correction of error in certificate of marriage
The Registrar may correct any clerical error in any certificate of marriage registered under this Part on production to him of the certificate delivered to the parties, and shall authenticate every such correction by his signature, or by marking the same with his initials, and the date of making the correction.

13. Searches may be made and certified copies granted
(1) The Registrar may allow searches to be made amongst all certificates, registers and indices in his possession for the purposes of this Part and may give a certified copy of any entry therein, and issue a certificate that there is no record of any marriage of the person named having been registered under this Part. (Amended 5 of 1999 s. 2)
(2) A certificate issued or purporting to be issued under this section before the commencement* of the Marriage (Certificate of Absence of Marriage Record) Ordinance 1999 (5 of 1999) shall be deemed to have been issued as if that Ordinance had been in force at the time of its issue. (Added 5 of 1999 s. 2)

Editorial Note:
* Commencement date: 5 February 1999.

### Marriage Reform Ordinance 《婚姻制度改革條例》

14. Dissolution of validated marriages
The dissolution, at any time before the appointed day, of a validated marriage by the mutual consent of the parties to the marriage signified by the signature of each of the parties in the presence of 2 other persons who have also signed as attesting witnesses, to an agreement or memorandum in writing which sets forth unequivocally the final and complete dissolution of the marriage shall be valid for all purposes and shall be deemed to have been so valid since the execution of the agreement or memorandum.

15. Dissolution of certain marriages on and after the appointed day
A customary marriage or a validated marriage subsisting on the appointed day and registered in accordance with Part IV may where at least one party to the marriage has a substantial connexion with Hong Kong be dissolved on or after the day upon which such marriage has been so registered—
(a) in accordance with the Matrimonial Causes Ordinance (Cap. 179); or 
(b) in accordance with this Part. 
(Replaced 62 of 1979 s. 4)

16. Notice of intention to dissolve marriage
(1) The parties to a marriage, of a kind which may be dissolved under this Part, may give notice of their intention to dissolve the marriage in the prescribed form to a designated public officer, signed by both parties to the marriage and published or otherwise given in such manner as may be prescribed. 
(2) A person who has given notice in accordance with subsection (1) may, by publication or otherwise as may be prescribed, cancel such notice.

17. Parties may appear before designated public officer
(1) Not less than one month after the giving of notice under section 16(1), the parties to the marriage may, if neither of them has cancelled the notice under section 16(2), appear personally before the designated public officer to whom notice was given for the purpose of satisfying him that each of them wishes voluntarily and freely to dissolve his or her marriage to the other. 
(2) If a designated public officer is satisfied that the parties appearing before him—
(a) have given notice of intention to dissolve their marriage under subsection (1) of section 16 and notice of changed intention under subsection (2) of that section has not been given; and 
(b) understand that the effect of dissolution is to put an end to the marriage so as to permit the parties to marry again should either of them so wish; and 
(c) freely and voluntarily desire to dissolve the marriage, 
he shall sign the prescribed form in duplicate and deliver one copy to each of the parties.

### Marriage Reform Ordinance 《婚姻制度改革條例》

18. Functions of designated public officer
For the purposes of section 17, a designated public officer—
(a) shall interview each of the parties to a marriage appearing before him in the presence of each other and also in the absence of each other, and no other person, except an interpreter (should one be necessary), shall be present at any such interview; 
(b) may require the parties or either of them to appear before him again on some specified occasion or occasions; 
(c) may require the parties or either of them to furnish such further information as he may reasonably require.

19. Memorandum of dissolution of marriage
(1) The parties to a marriage may, within one month of the delivery to them under section 17 of the prescribed forms by a designated public officer, sign, in Hong Kong in the presence of each other and in the presence of 2 other adult persons who shall also sign as attesting witnesses, an agreement or memorandum in writing for the dissolution of the marriage unequivocally with effect from registration under section 20.
(2) An agreement or memorandum for the dissolution of a marriage, signed and witnessed in the manner required by subsection (1), shall have the effect, as from registration under section 20 of dissolving the marriage.

20. Registration of memorandum for dissolution of marriage
The parties to an agreement or memorandum for the dissolution of a marriage signed under and in accordance with section 19 shall, within 14 days from the date of signature or such longer period as the designated public officer before whom the parties appeared under section 17 may for special reasons in any particular case permit, register, either personally or through their duly authorized agent, particulars of the agreement or memorandum for dissolution of marriage with the designated public officer before whom the parties appeared under section 17; and that officer shall endorse on the agreement or memorandum a record of registration under this section.

21. Register of dissolutions of marriage
(1) The Director of Home Affairs shall maintain a register for the registration of dissolutions of marriage effected under section 19. 
(2) A designated public officer with whom a dissolution of marriage is registered under section 20 shall send to the Director of Home Affairs once in each month, or more often if so directed by the Director of Home Affairs, particulars of all such dissolutions registered by him and the Director of Home Affairs shall cause such particulars to be entered in the register and preserved for record at his office. 
(Amended L.N. 67 of 1985; L.N. 262 of 1989; L.N. 621 of 1994)

22. Chief Executive may designate public officers
The Chief Executive by notice in the Gazette may designate public officers for the purposes of this Part.
(Amended 34 of 1999 s. 3)