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Digital birth certificate launched

05 Sep 2022

By Dinitha Rathnayake The Department of Registration of Persons has started issuing digital birth certificates, which provide the National Birth Certificate in digital format. Registrar General Prabhath Abeywardena speaking to The Morning said that the birth certificate will be issued for children born from 1 August 2022 onwards.  “This programme started in 2017 and 1.3 million people’s data has been compiled so far.” According to Abeywardena, The programme has been implemented across six Divisional Secretariat (DS) divisions, including Dehiwala, Hanguranketha,Thamankaduwa, Gampaha, Ratnapura, and Kurunegala. The Registrar General said that the digital birth certificate programme will be implemented across the island in the future. He pointed out that the number associated with the infant in the digital birth certificate will be their National Identity Card (NIC) number when they turn 15 years of age. The programme has been implemented across six DS divisions, and the Registrar General stated that the certificate will be issued in two languages – Sinhala-Tamil or English-Tamil, in order to enable translations. The general public would be able to collect the certificate from additional registration counters, and it will be fully implemented by 2025. Anyone whose identification numbers contain 12 digits (those born after 1 January 2016) would be able to obtain a digital birth certificate, and O/L students who sit for the examination next year would be provided with a digital certificate. The Registrar General’s Department commenced the issuance of copies of birth, death, and marriage certificates online last year.


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