REPUBLIC OF CAMEROON PEACE - WORK - FATHERLAND
LAW No. 2024/016 OF 23 DEC 2024
ORGANIZE THE CIVIL REGISTRATION SYSTEM IN CAMEROON
PRESIDENCE DE LA REPUBLIQUE PRESIDENCY OF THE REPUBLIC SECRETARIAT GENERAL SERVICE DU FICHIER LEGISLATIF ET REGLEMENTAIRE DE DISLATIVE AND STATUTORY AFFAIRS CARD INDEX SERVICE COPIE CERTIFIEE CONFORME CERTIFIED TRUE COPY
The Parliament deliberated and adopted, the President of the Republic hereby enacts the law set out below:
CHAPTER I GENERAL PROVISIONS
I. PURPOSE AND SCOPE
SECTION 1: (1) This law lays down the organization of the civil registration system in Cameroon.
As such, it deals in particular with:
- rules relating to the legal establishment, recording and transcription of vital events;
- the conditions for making, issuing and the validity of civil status documents;
- rules relating to the organization and financing of the national civil registration system.
(2) Separate laws shall lay down rules relating to the status of persons.
SECTION 2: (1) The provisions of this law shall apply to Cameroonians living on the national territory, as well as Cameroonians born, resident or established abroad.
(2) They shall also apply to aliens born, established, visiting, in transit in Cameroon, as well as to refugees, asylum seekers and stateless persons present on the national territory.
II. DEFINITIONS
SECTION 3: For the purposes of this law and its implementing instruments, the following definitions shall apply:
Civil status certificate: authentic document issued by an approved authority establishing the occurrence of a vital event such as birth, marriage, or death. A civil status document may be physical or electronic;
Electronic certificate: electronic document secured by the electronic signature of its issuer, which attests, upon verification, to the authenticity of its content;
Qualified electronic certificate: electronic certificate issued by an approved certification authority;
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Initial copy: first copy of a civil status certificate from the national civil status registry issued when made or amended;
Full copy: faithful duplicate of the original civil status certificate, signed by the competent authority and having the same probative value as the original certificate, where it is issued from the certificate's stub contained in the civil status register;
Subsequent copy: any copy of a civil registration certificate issued from the national civil status register after the initial copy;
Body of a civil status certificate: part of the civil status certificate containing the predefined particulars as provided for by law;
Declarant: person who notifies the civil status registrar of the occurrence of a vital event;
Declaration of a vital event: notification of a vital event to the civil status registrar so that it may be recorded and the corresponding civil status certificate drawn up;
Civil registration: continuous, permanent, compulsory and universal recording in the civil status register or the national civil status file of information relating to vital events;
Child: any human being under the age of 18 (eighteen);
Abandoned child: any newborn child found in Cameroon, or any child abandoned by and no longer under the authority of their parents;