### Birth Certificate (Shortened Form) Regulations 《出生證明書(簡略格式)規例》

1. Citation
These regulations may be cited as the Birth Certificate (Shortened Form) Regulations.

2. Interpretation
In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—
registered person (獲登記人) means a person in respect of whose birth an application for a short birth certificate is made and whose birth is registered or recorded in any register or record in the custody of the Registrar; 
short birth certificate (簡略出生證明書) means a certificate of birth the form of which is prescribed by regulation 3; 
the entry (記項) in relation to a registered person means the entry relating to him appearing in any such register or record as aforesaid.
(E.R. 4 of 2017)

3. Form of certificate
The form of certificate of birth to be issued by the registrar at the general register office under section 23 of the Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance (Cap. 174) in a case to which these regulations apply, shall be the form set out in the Schedule.

4. Particulars to be furnished by applicants
An applicant for a short birth certificate to which these regulations apply shall furnish to the registrar at the general register office, except where the application is made to him at the time of registration of the birth, the following particulars relating to the registered person—
(a) his surname and name; 
(b) the date and place of his birth; 
(c) the surname and name of his father; and 
(d) the maiden surname and name of his mother: 
Provided that the registrar at the general register office may dispense with the furnishing of any of the said particulars which in his opinion it is not reasonably practicable for the applicant to furnish.
(L.N. 498 of 1995)

### Birth Certificate (Shortened Form) Regulations 《出生證明書(簡略格式)規例》

5. Manner of compilation of short certificate and particulars to be contained therein
(1) A short birth certificate to which these regulations apply shall be compiled in accordance with and shall contain the particulars required by paragraphs (2) to (4) of this regulation. 
(2) Opposite the words “Surname and Name” in the form of short birth certificate there shall be inserted the registered person’s name as recorded in the entry, and immediately thereafter there shall be inserted— (L.N. 498 of 1995) 
(a) where it appears from the entry that the registered person is legitimate, the surname of his father as recorded therein, or if more than one such surname is so recorded, then such one of them as the applicant may request; 
(b) where it appears from the entry that the registered person is illegitimate, the surname of his mother as recorded therein, or, if more than one surname is so recorded, or if the birth is registered on the joint information of his mother and father, then the surname to be inserted in the short birth certificate shall be such one of the surnames recorded in the entry as the applicant may request; so however that no such surname shall be so inserted which appears from the entry not to have been in use at the time when the birth was registered. 
(3) Opposite the words “Sex” and “Date of Birth” respectively shall be inserted the particulars thereof in the entry. 
(4) Opposite the words “Place of Birth” there shall be inserted the name of the registration district and register office in Hong Kong in which the birth was registered.

### Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance 《生死登記條例》

1. Short title
This Ordinance may be cited as the Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance.

### Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance 《生死登記條例》

3. Registrar, staff and general register office
(1) The Chief Executive may appoint—
(a) a person to be the Registrar of Births and Deaths; 
(b) subject to subsection (2), such deputy registrars, district registrars, clerks and subordinate officers as may be necessary for the purposes of this Ordinance; 
(c) a general register office for keeping registers of all births and deaths occurring in Hong Kong. 
(2) Unless and until otherwise directed by the Chief Executive, the officer in charge of each police station mentioned in the second column of the First Schedule shall be a district registrar of deaths for the district specified in relation to that police station in the first column of that Schedule. 
(Replaced 38 of 1979 s. 2. Amended 71 of 1999 s. 3)

4. Register forms
(1) The Registrar must make available register forms of births, and register forms of deaths, in the prescribed form (See Forms 1 & 2 in the Second Schedule)

5. Signed register forms to be recorded in form of digital image
(Amended 8 of 2006 s. 11)(1) For the purpose of compiling the births register, the Registrar shall cause to be recorded in the form of a digital image every signed register form that relates to the birth of a child.
(2) For the purpose of compiling the deaths register, the Registrar shall cause to be recorded in the form of a digital image every signed register form that relates to the death of a person.
(Replaced 80 of 1997 s. 50. Amended 8 of 2006 s. 11; 3 of 2023 s. 4)

### Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance 《生死登記條例》

5A. Computer record
(1) The Registrar shall cause to be compiled, in accordance with this section, a computer record of the particulars required to be registered under this Ordinance.
(2) The registrar at the general register office or at a district registry office must, in respect of— (Amended 3 of 2023 s. 5)
(a) every signed register form; and
(b) every certified copy of a signed register form sent to the registrar under section 11(2),
for registering any birth or death under this Ordinance on or after 6 November 1995, record the particulars contained in it in the form of data stored in the database of a register computer, and the data must be capable of being retrieved and reproduced in a legible form. (Amended 3 of 2023 s. 5)
(3) The Registrar may cause the particulars of the entries in any register book or any part of a register book to be recorded in the computer record, in the form of data as described in subsection (2).
(4) The computer record shall be divided into 2 parts for recording such particulars on births and deaths respectively.
(Added 80 of 1997 s. 50)

6. Inspection
From time to time and as often as may be necessary the Registrar or a deputy registrar shall visit each district registry office to inspect the register books, register forms (signed or unsigned), and other documents kept at that office and confer with the district registrar as to the facts regarding registration in his district. 
(Amended 9 of 1957 s. 3; 80 of 1997 s. 51)

7. Duty of parent or occupier to register birth
The father of every child born alive in Hong Kong, or, in case of death, illness, absence, or inability of the father, the mother of such child, or in case of the death, illness, absence, or inability of the father and mother, the occupier of the house in which such child has been born, or any person present at the birth, must, within 42 days after the day of such birth, give information to a registrar according to the best of his or her knowledge and belief, of the several particulars required to be registered, and must sign and submit to such registrar a register form completed with the information so given. 
(Amended 1 of 1965 s. 2; 67 of 1984 s. 2; 80 of 1997 s. 52; 3 of 2023 s. 6) [cf. 1874 c. 88 s. 1 U.K.]