Registrar General Department Limits Printing of Certificates

Charlton McFarlane

The Registrar General’s Department (RGD) has suspended printing of the first free birth certificates and limited the maximum number of copies persons can apply and pay for, effective Monday, September 19. 

The suspension, which is expected to last until Friday, September 30, results from supply chain logistical challenges sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

This has affected the production and shipment of the security paper used to print the certificates.  

The RGD’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Charlton McFarlane, told JIS News that the lingering challenges fuelled by the pandemic, “which have been complicated by other international disruptions, have negatively affected the global supply chain.”  

“As a result of this, our security paper supplier would have indicated to us that they were having challenges with the production and shipment of the paper,” he informed. 

“We are down to a critical level in our vaults and based on our projections and with the new timeline for the delivery of security papers, which is sometime next week, we have taken the decision to temporarily suspend the printing of the first free birth certificates just for this two-week period,” the CEO added. 

The agency has also decided to limit the number of copies of certificates that persons would normally apply and pay for. 

“On average, a customer would apply and pay for two birth certificates. But at this time, we are only allowing said customer to apply for one copy, if it is a birth or marriage certificate,” Mr. McFarlane indicated. 

Regarding death certificates, the CEO explained that persons can apply for a maximum of two.

“Death certificates are normally required by various stakeholders. So, we decided that one copy would not necessarily be sufficient for the effective facilitation of business,” he explained.

 Mr. McFarlane pointed out that only customers applying for certificates between September 19 and 30 and requesting a turnaround time for delivery during that period, will be affected. 

“If a person comes to the RGD next week Friday (September 30) and applies for a certificate with a requested seven-day delivery time, their delivery date would fall in October. So their application would be processed normally because, by then, our stock would have been replenished,” he advised.

“We hope that the disruption will be minimal and apologise to our customers for the inconvenience that this has caused,” Mr. McFarlane said.

The RGD is Jamaica’s sole repository of birth, marriage, still birth, and death records.