Sri Lanka Legal Analysis

In Sri Lanka, the national level entity responsible for civil registration is the The Office of Registrar General within the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Births and Deaths Registration Act designates a three-tiered civil registration structure, with the Registrar General at a national level, District Registrars at a middle level and Registrars of Divisions at a local level.

Sri Lanka Legal Analysis

The primary informants for all births (regardless of whether they occur inside or outside health facilities) are the mother and the father. If parents are unable "by reason of death, illness, absence, or other inability recognized by the Registrar-General", the law assigns the role of informants to the "occupier of the house or building where the child was born, each person present at birth and the person having charge of the child". The duty to be informed of all births that occur in a division, lies also with the registrar of division under Section 10 though a registrar of division is not designated primary informant for births.

Sri Lanka Legal Analysis

In the case of community births or births occuring outside a health facility, the family must go to the Gram Niladhari (GN) who completes Form B23 and the family takes form B23 and CR1 (see above) to registrar to register birth.

Sri Lanka Legal Analysis

While the BDRA does not assign a formal role to the health sector, a Ministry of Health circular issued in 2015 instructed all directors of health facilities to facilitate birth registration. Under this circular, the heads of health facilities are  required to fill in a form (B148) with details of the birth (date, place, name, sex, weight and other data) and submit it to the Registrar. However, in practice, the B148 is filled in by hospitals and handed over to the family which, together with a form CR1 (filled out by family), submits both forms to the registrar of division for birth registration. 

Sri Lanka Legal Analysis

Under Section 29 of the BDRA, the "nearest relatives present at the death" are the primary informants for deaths occuring in a house or building. Health facilities are included interpretively, in the meaning of "buildings".
By way of a Circular issued by the RG, hospitals are required to fill in form B33 whenever a death occurs in a hospital. This form is filled in triplicate and one copy is handed to the family. The second copy is sent to the RG's department, while the third copy is retained by the hospital. Alongside form CR2 (filled out by family), B33 is presented to the registrar for complete registration. Through this Circular, the hospitals themselves are made notifiers and not informants.

Sri Lanka Legal Analysis

In the case of deaths that occur outside hospitals, in the community, and not referred to Medicolegal Death Investiation authorities, the Gram Niladhari (village headman) fills out a Form B24 (Report of Death) and provides this to the informant. A medical practitioner attending the deceased may provide a certification of cause of death on a letterhead or as Form B33 (Declaration of Death containing cause of death information filled out by a medical officer) to the Gram Nalidhari to accompany the B24.

Sri Lanka Legal Analysis

In the case of deaths in hospitals, that are not unnatural and therefore not referred to Medicolegal Death Investigation authorities, the hospital issues a Form B33 (Declaration of Death) to the family. This Declaration of Death in Form B33 contains cause of death information and can only be filled by an attending medical officer. The family then submits this Form to the Registrar of Division alongside Form CR2 (also called Declaration of Death) which is filled out by the family. Together, Forms B33 and CR2 are required to register a death.
The Forms stipulated in the Births and Deaths Registration Act have changed in practice but the law itself has not been updated. Forms B33 and CR2 have been issued by the Registrar General Department of Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka Legal Analysis

Under the Birth and Deaths Registration Act, the role of the health sector is unclear. The only existing provisions are limited to specific geographic areas, and do not apply to the whole territory:
- According to Section 47(5) of the Act, any medical officer who receives information on stillbirths occurring in "certain areas" (listed in Part V of the Act), shall report it to the registrar within 7 days.
- Under Section 48 of the Act, for stillbirths occurring in "certain areas" (listed in Part V of the Act), the heads of health facilities shall send weekly information to the registrar about any stillbirths having taken place in their facilities.
These provisions, anyway, are no longer enforced.
Nonetheless, the role of the health sector in stillbirth registration has been expanded by Circular 2-155 of 2015. This circular requires the health sector to send a copy of the form "Declaration of Still Birth" to the Registrar General and give a copy of the declaration to the parent for use in registration.

Sri Lanka Legal Analysis

A circular issued in 2015 by the Ministry of Health requires all health facilities, including private hospitals, to fill the form "Declaration of Still Birth" (B22) for every stillbirth (>28 weeks) that occurs in health facilities. Form B22 is submitted by the health facility to the registrar and a copy is given to parents. The parents are supposed to report the stillbirth to registrar for stillbirth registration to occur.