CHAPTER 108

THE BIRTHS AND DEATHS REGISTRATION ACT

[PRINCIPAL LEGISLATION]
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
Section
Title
1. Short title.
2. Interpretation.

The Registrar-General
3. Appointment and duties of Registrar-General.
4. Indexes, searches, certified copies.
5. Appointment, powers and duties of Assistant Registrars-General.

District Registrars
6. District registrars.
7. Substitution of other officers for district registrars.
8. Registrar-General may give special directions to a district registrar.

Registration of Births
9. Register to be kept in every district.
10. Mode of registration.
11. Duty to register births.
12. Registration of child born out of wedlock.
13. Registration of exposed child.
14. Change of name.

Registration of Deaths
15. Register to be kept in every district.
16. Mode of registration.
17. Duty to register deaths.
18. Provisions relating to medical certificates of cause of death.

General
19. Late registration of birth or death.
20. Power to hold inquiry.
21. [Repealed.]
22. Quarterly returns of births and deaths.
23. Disposal of filled up registers.
24. Correction of errors.
25. Certified copies.
26. Compulsory registration of births.
27. Compulsory registration of non-native deaths.
28. Extension of compulsory registration.
29. Offences and penalties.
30. Registers kept under Proclamation No. 15 of 1917.
31. Rules.

CHAPTER 108
THE BIRTHS AND DEATHS REGISTRATION ACT
An Act to make provision for the registration of births and deaths and for the
issue by medical practitioners of certificates of the cause of death.
[15th December, 1920]
 [s. 1(1)]
[1st April, 1921]
R.L. Cap. 108
Ords. Nos.
12 of 1920
29 of 1922
20 of 1926
19 of 1943
39 of 1949
30 of 1955
[R.L. Cap. 277]
Acts Nos.
11 of 1976
13 of 1988
19 of 1992
1 of 1993
G.N. No. 478 of 1962

1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Births and Deaths Registration Act.
2. Interpretation
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires–
"Minister" means the Minister responsible for legal affairs,
"prescribed particulars" means–
(a) as to any birth, the sex, name, date, and place of birth, the names, residence,
occupations and nationality of the parents, and such other particulars as the
Minister may by rules prescribe; and
(b) as to any death, the name, age, sex, residence, occupation and nationality of
the deceased, and the date, place, and cause of death, and such other
particulars as the Minister may by rules prescribe.

The Registrar-General (ss 3-5)

3. Appointment and duties of Registrar-General
(1) The Minister shall appoint a Registrar-General of Births and Deaths Minister
hereinafter called "the Registrar-General".
(2) It shall be the duty of the Registrar-General to compile, after the close of each
year, a summary of births and deaths of such year and a report on the increase or
decrease of the population of the country, and on any special causes appearing to affect
the same.
(3) The Registrar-General shall have the custody of all filed register books and of
all quarterly returns made by the district registrar of a district.
(4) It shall be the duty of the Registrar-General to provide the district registrar of
a district with such book and forms as may be required, and with such instructions as he
may consider necessary for the registration of births and deaths in his district.
4. Indexes, searches, certified copies (1) The Registrar-General shall cause to be
prepared from the returns made to him alphabetical indexes of the births and deaths
registered.
(2) Any register in the custody of a district registrar, and any register, copy of a
register, return, or index in the custody of the Registrar-General shall, on payment of the
prescribed fee and subject to the prescribed rules, be open to inspection.
5. Appointment, powers and duties of Assistant Registrars-General (1) The
Minister may appoint as many Assistant Registrars-General of Births and Deaths as he
may consider necessary for the purposes of this Act.
(2) Subject to the directions of the Registrar-General, an Assistant Registrar
General of Births and Deaths shall have all the powers and perform all the duties and be
subject to all the obligations of the Registrar-General.

District Registrars (ss 6-8)

6. District registrars The administrative officer in charge of a district or such
other person as the Minister may appoint by notice in the Gazette shall be the district
registrar of that district.
7. Substitution of other officers for district registrars The Minister may
direct that the duties of the district registrar of any district shall in that district be
performed by any other public officer or by any person who is in charge of a hospital
institution.
8. Registrar-General may give special directions to a district registrar The
Registrar-General may, from time to time give general or special directions to any district
registrar as to the performance of his duties or functions and any district registrar shall
comply with any general or special directions so given.

Registration of Births (ss 9-14)

9. Register to be kept in every district
The district registrar of a district shall keep a register, and shall enter therein
every birth, whereof the prescribed particulars are reported to him, of a child born alive
within his district.
10. Mode of registration
Every person registering the birth of a child shall, to the best of his knowledge
and ability, give the prescribed particulars, and shall certify to their correctness either by
signing, or, if he is illiterate, by affixing his mark to, the register, or if the registration is
effected without personal attendance by signing, or affixing his mark to, the prescribed
form on which the prescribed particulars are reported to the district registrar.
11. Duty to register births
In the case of every child born alive after the commencement of this Act, the
registration of whose birth is compulsory, it shall be the duty of the father and mother,
and, in default of the father and mother, of the occupier of the house in which to his
knowledge such child is born, and of each person present at the birth, and of the person
having charge of such child, to register the birth within three months of the birth.
12. Registration of child born out of wedlock
No person shall be bound as father to register the birth of a child born out of
wedlock and no person shall be entered in the register of as the father of such child
except at his own request and upon his acknowledging himself to be the father of the
child and signing, or affixing his mark to, the register as such.
13. Registration of exposed child
If any living new-born child, the registration of whose birth is compulsory, is found
exposed, it shall be the duty of any person finding such child, and of any person in
whose charge such child may be placed, to give such information as the informant
possesses for the purpose of registering such birth.
14. Change of name
Where the birth of any child has been registered before it has received a name,
or the name by which it was registered is altered, the parent or guardian of such child
may, within two years of the registration on payment of the prescribed fee and on
providing such evidence as the district registrar may think necessary, register the name
that has been given to the child.

Registration of Deaths (ss 15-17)

15. Register to be kept in every district
The district registrar of a district shall keep a register, and shall enter therein
every death occurring within the district after the commencement of this Act whereof the
prescribed particulars are reported to him.
16. Mode of registration
Every person registering a death shall, to the best of his knowledge and ability,
give the prescribed particulars, and shall certify to their correctness either by signing or,
if he is illiterate, by affixing his mark to, the register, or, if the registration is effected
without personal attendance, by signing or affixing his mark to the prescribed form on
which the prescribed particulars are reported to the district registrar.
17. Duty to register deaths
In the case of every person dying after the commencement of this Act, the
registration of whose death is compulsory, it shall be the duty of the nearest relatives of
such person who were present at his death or in attendance during his last illness, and
in default of such relatives, of every other relative dwelling within the district, and in
default of such relatives, of each person present at the death, and of the occupier of the
house in which to his knowledge such death took place; and in default of any of the
persons hereinbefore mentioned, of any inmate of the house, or of any person finding or
taking charge of the body of such person, or causing such person to be buried, to
register the death within one month after the death or finding of the body or, where the
district registrar is satisfied that from any cause registration could not be effected within
the said period and that no undue delay has taken place, within three months after the
death or finding of the body.

Certificates of the Cause of Death (s 18)

18. Provisions relating to medical certificates of cause of death (1) The
Registrar-General shall, from time to time, furnish to every district registrar printed forms
of certificates of cause of death by licensed and registered medical practitioners, and
every such registrar shall furnish such forms gratis to any such medical practitioner
residing or practising in such registrar's district.
(2) In case of the death of any person who has been attended during his last
illness by a licensed or registered medical practitioner, that practitioner shall sign and
give to some person required by section 17 of this Act to register the death a certificate
stating to the best of his knowledge and belief the cause of death and such person shall,
upon registering the death, deliver that certificate to the district registrar and the cause of
death as stated in that certificate shall be entered in the register, together with the name
of the certifying medical practitioner.
(3) Where an inquest is held on the body of any deceased person, a medical
certificate of the cause of death need not be given to the district registrar, but the
coroner's finding as certified by him in his inquisition shall be sufficient.
(4) If any person to whom a medical certificate is given by a medical practitioner
in pursuance of this section fails to deliver that certificate to the district registrar, he shall
be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding forty shillings.
 General (ss 19-31)
19. Late registration of birth or death A district registrar shall not enter in the
register any birth after three months from the date of such birth or any death after one
month from the date of such death unless–
(a) he is satisfied of the correctness of the particulars tendered for registration; and
(b) payment is made of the prescribed fee:
Provided that the district registrar shall not, without the prior approval of the
Registrar-General, register any birth ten or more years after its occurrence.
20. Power to hold inquiry (1) For the purpose of satisfying himself pursuant to
section 19 of the correctness or otherwise of particulars tendered for entry in the
register, a district registrar may make or cause to be made such inquiries as he may
deem fit.
(2) For the purposes of any inquiry made under subsection (1), the district
registrar may administer oaths and may issue a summons under his hand directing the
person named therein to attend at the time and place therein mentioned to give evidence
or to produce documents therein specified or to do both.
(3) If any person upon whom a summons issued under the provisions of
subsection (2) has been served refuses or omits without sufficient cause to attend at the
time and place mentioned in the summons, or refuses without sufficient cause to answer
fully and satisfactorily to the best of his knowledge and belief all questions put to him by
or with the concurrence of the district registrar, or refuses or omits without sufficient
cause to produce any documents in his possession or under his control which are
mentioned in the summons, he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on
conviction to a fine not exceeding one thousand shillings:
Provided that no person giving evidence before the district registrar may be
required to answer any question the answer to which may tend to expose him to any
criminal charge, penalty or forfeiture, and that every person shall, in respect of any
evidence given by him or any document he is required to produce be entitled to all the
privileges to which a witness in a trial before the High Court is entitled in respect of
evidence given by him or a document he is required to produce before such court.
21. Repealed
[Repealed by Act No. 1 of 1993 Sch.]
[s. 22A]
22. Quarterly returns of births and deaths (1) Every district registrar shall, in
every January, April, July, and October, make and deliver to the Registrar-General on
forms to be supplied for the purpose by the Registrar-General a true copy of all the
entries of births and deaths in the registers in his custody made during the three months
ending on the last day of the preceding December, March, June, or September, as the
case may be, or, if no entry has been made during that period, then a certificate to that
effect signed by him.
(2) There shall be attached to every such copy a certificate in the prescribed form
signed by the district registrar.
[s. 21]
23. Disposal of filled up registers Every register of births and deaths, when
filled up, shall as soon as possible, be delivered to the Registrar-General and shall be
preserved by him.
[s. 22]
24. Correction of errors (1) Where it is shown to the satisfaction of any district
registrar or the Registrar-General that any error has been made in any register, copy of
a register, or index in his custody, he may correct the error.
(2) Every correction of an error shall be so made that the original entry remains
legible, and shall be dated and signed by the officer making the correction.
(3) Before making any correction, the district registrar or Registrar-General may,
if he considers it necessary, require the true facts to be proved by evidence on oath
(which he is hereby authorised to administer) or by statutory declaration.
[s. 23]
25. Certified copies (1) On payment of the prescribed fee–
(a) every district registrar and the Registrar-General shall give a certified copy of
any entry in any register of births or deaths in his custody;
(b) the Registrar-General shall give a certified copy of any entry in any copy of a
register delivered to him under the provisions of this Act or of any entry in any
quarterly return of births or deaths made before the 1st January, 1923 (in
pursuance of the provisions of section 13 of the Births and Deaths Registration
Act, 1920, which section was repealed by the Births and Deaths Registration
Act, 1922).
(2) Every certified copy given under the provisions of this section shall be
certified in the prescribed manner.
(3) Every certified copy of an entry in a register of births or deaths or of an entry
in a copy of such a register delivered to the Registrar-General under the provisions of
this Act or of an entry in a quarterly return of births or deaths made as aforesaid shall, if
it purports to be certified in the prescribed manner, be admissible in evidence without
proof, and be prima facie evidence of the facts recorded therein.
[s. 24]
26. Compulsory registration of births
The registration of the birth of a child shall be compulsory if either one or both
parents are of European or American origin or descent or, in the case of a child born out
of wedlock and not recognised by its father, if the mother is of European or American
origin or descent.
[s. 25]
27. Compulsory registration of non-native deaths (1) The registration of the
death, after the 1st January, 1923, of every non-native shall be compulsory.
(2) In this section the expression "non-native" means a person who is neither a
member of an African race nor a Swahili and includes a Somali.
[s. 26]
28. Extension of compulsory registration The Minister may, by order
published in the Gazette, extend, from a date to be named in the order, the provisions of
this Act relating to the compulsory registration of births and deaths to all persons in
Tanzania of any particular race, class, tribe, or other group, or to all or some of the
inhabitants of any particular town, district, or other area, and from and after the said date
the registration of births and deaths shall, in such cases, be compulsory instead of being
optional.
[s. 27]
29. Offences and penalties (1) Any person who, being under an obligation to
register the birth or death of a person, fails to do so within the periods mentioned in
section 11 or 17 hereof, as the case may be, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be
liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding five hundred shillings, and the court may after
convicting any person under this subsection order that such person do register the birth
or death, as the case may be, notwithstanding the fact that the said period shall have
expired, and any person failing to obey such order of the court shall be guilty of an
offence and shall be liable on conviction to the same penalties as are hereinafter set out
for the offence of refusing to register.
(2) Any person who, being under an obligation to register the birth or death of
any person, refuses to register or to state any of the prescribed particulars, shall be
guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding five hundred
shillings or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one month, or to both such fine and
imprisonment, and the court may after convicting any person under this subsection order
that such person do register the birth or death, as the case may be, or state the
prescribed particulars, notwithstanding the fact that the period therefor shall have
expired, and any person failing to obey such order of the court shall be guilty of an
offence and shall be liable on conviction to the same penalties as are herein set out for
refusing to register or to state any of the prescribed particulars.
(3) Any person who makes any statement or gives any information to or
produces any document to any district registrar which is false in any material particular
and which he either knows or believes to be false or does not believe to be true, with the
intention of procuring any entry in any register of births or deaths or knowing or believing
that the same may be produced in evidence by a person seeking to procure any such
entry shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not
exceeding one thousand shillings or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year
or to both such fine and imprisonment.
[s. 28]
30. Registers kept under Proclamation No. 15 of 1917 The registers of births
and deaths kept in pursuance of Proclamation No. 15 of 1917 (Civil Area), dated the
twenty-eighth day of August, 1917 (which is hereby repealed), shall, as soon as
conveniently may be, be delivered to the Registrar-General, and the provisions of this
Act as to inspection and certified copies shall apply to every such register in like manner
as they apply to registers kept under this Act.
[s. 29]
31. Rules
The Minister may make rules with regard to the following matters, and generally
for carrying into effect the provisions of this Act–
(a) the place in each district and the hours at which births and deaths may be
registered;
(b) the conditions under which and the mode in which registration may be effected
without personal attendance;
(c) the forms of all registers, returns, and other documents required for the
purposes of this Act;
(d) the amount of any fee where a fee is prescribed by this Act;
(e) the inspection of registers, returns, and indexes, and the provision of certified
copies;
(f) the places at which births and deaths occurring on board ships while within the
territorial waters of Tanzania shall be registered.
[s. 30]