Citation, commencement and interpretation

1. —(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Civil Partnerships Records Regulations 2016 and come into force on 7th November 2016.

(2) In these Regulations—

“expedited service” means a service provided to a person who makes an application to the Registrar General before 13:00 on a working day and which is normally provided within 3 relevant hours of the request for a record being received;

“portable document format” means a document which meets the specifications set out in the International Standards Organisation document ISO 32000-1:2008( 2 );

“relevant hours” means the hours between 08:00 and 16:00 on a working day;

“standard service” means a service provided to a person who makes an application to the Registrar General and which is normally provided within 5 working days of the request for a record being received;

“working day” means a day which is not a Saturday or Sunday, Christmas Day, Good Friday or a bank holiday under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971( 3 ) in England and Wales.

Provision of the information contained in a civil partnership record in portable document format

2. —(1) The Registrar General may, on request, search the Registrar General’s civil partnership register and provide the information contained in an entry in that register, in portable document format.

(2) A request for the Registrar General to undertake a search and provide information under paragraph (1) must—

(a) be made via the public website known as www.gov.uk , and

(b) indicate whether the information is required by way of standard service or expedited service.

(3) Subject to paragraph (4), a record of the information provided under paragraph (1) shall not include the full addresses of the civil partners unless the applicant has provided the Registrar General with the full addresses of both civil partners as listed in that record, at the time of the application.

(4) Paragraph (3) shall not apply on and after the first of January in the year following the 50th anniversary of the formation of the civil partnership.