Registration of Adoptions 1 LAWS OF MALAYSIA REPRINT Act 253 REGISTRATION OF ADOPTIONS ACT 1952 Incorporating all amendments up to 1 January 2006 PUBLISHED BY THE COMMISSIONER OF LAW REVISION, MALAYSIA UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE REVISION OF LAWS ACT 1968 IN COLLABORATION WITH PERCETAKAN NASIONAL MALAYSIA BHD 2006 2 REGISTRATION OF ADOPTIONS ACT 1952 First enacted ... ... ... ... ... ... 1952 (F.M. Ordinance No. 54 of 1952) Revised ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 1981 (Act 253 w.e.f 17 September 1981) PREVIOUS REPRINT First Reprint ... ... ... ... ... 2001 3 LAWS OF MALAYSIA Act 253 REGISTRATION OF ADOPTIONS ACT 1952 ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS Section 1. Short title and application 2. Interpretation 3. The Registrar General 4. Appointment of Registrars of Adoption 5. Registrar's Register and note book 6. Registration of de facto adoptions 7. Copies of registration to be delivered to applicant 8. Parties and witnesses bound to speak the truth 9. Powers of Registrar 10. Refusal of registration 11. Validity of an adoption not affected by registration or non-registration 12. Search for and certified copy of entry in adoption registers 13. Amendment of register 14. Offences and penalties 15. Registrars to be public servants 16. Rules FIRST SCHEDULE SECOND SCHEDULE 4 ACT 253 Laws of Malaysia Registration of Adoptions 5 LAWS OF MALAYSIA Act 253 REGISTRATION OF ADOPTIONS ACT 1952 An Act to provide for the registration of adoptions. [1 January 1955, L.N. 732/1954] Short title and application 1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Registration of Adoptions Act 1952. (2) This Act shall apply to Peninsular Malaysia only. Interpretation 2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires-- "guardian" means the person having the legal right to the custody of the child; "Peninsular Malaysia" has the meaning assigned thereto in section 3 of the Interpretation Acts 1948 and 1967 [Act 388], and includes the Federal Territory; "Registrar" means a Registrar of Adoptions appointed under section 4 and includes a Deputy Registrar; " R e g i s t r a r General" means the person appointed to be Registrar General of Births and Deaths, Malaysia in accordance with subsection 3(1) of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1957 [Act 299]; The Registrar General 3. The Registrar General shall have general charge and supervision of all registers of adoptions kept under this Act and all Registrars of Adoptions shall be subject to his directions for the purposes of this Act. 6 ACT 253 Laws of Malaysia Appointment of Registrars of Adoption 4. (1) The Yang di-Pertuan Agong may appoint by name or office so many public officers or employees of the Commissioner appointed under *section 4 of the Federal Capital Act 1960 [Act 190] as he thinks fit to be Registrars of Adoptions for the Federal Territory or for such area as may be specified in the appointment for the purposes of this Act or to be and to act as the Deputy of any such Registrar when such Registrar is absent from the Federal Territory or area or is ill or when his office is temporarily vacant. (2) The Ruler or Yang di-Pertua Negeri in a state may appoint so many public officers, by name or by office, to be Registrars of Adoptions for the State or for such area as may be specified in the appointment for the purposes of this Act or to be and to act as the Deputy of any such Registrar when such Registrar is absent from such State or area or is ill or when his office is temporarily vacant. Registrar's Register and note book 5.  Every Registrar appointed under this Act shall keep a register in the form in the Second Schedule and he shall enter therein the particulars to be registered concerning the adoption and he shall also keep a book to be called the Registrar's note book in which he shall record in his own hand all proceedings in respect of the registration of any adoption, the details of the identity of the adopted child, the name of the person adopting it, the name of the person, if any, consenting to the adoption and all evidence taken by him in any such proceeding under this Act. Registration of de facto adoptions 6. (1) Where at the date when application for registration is made any child under the age of eighteen years who has never been married is in the custody of, and is being brought up, maintained and educated by any person, or by two spouses jointly, as his, her or their own child under any de facto adoption, and has f o r a period of not less than two years continuously and immediately before the date of such application been in such *NOTE--This section was referred to as section 3 of Act 190 prior to revision in 1977. Registration of Adoptions 7 custody and has been so brought up, maintained and educated, the Registrar may, upon the application, in the form in the First Schedule, of such person or spouses, register the adoption if-- (a) such person or spouses and the child shall appear before the Registrar and shall produce to the Registrar such evidence either oral or documentary as may satisfy the Registrar that such adoption took place; (b) the parents or one of the parents, or, if both the parents are dead or if neither of the parents is within Peninsular Malaysia, any guardian of the child shall appear before the Registrar and express consent to the adoption: Provided that if the Registrar is satisfied that in all the circumstances of the case it is just and equitable and for the welfare of the child he may dispense with the consent of any parent or custodian of the child or with the appearance of any parent or custodian who shall have signified his consent by statutory declaration; and (c) the prescribed fees are paid. (2) The Registrar shall register an adoption by entering the particulars thereof in the register. Copies of registration to be delivered to applicant 7. (1) Upon the registration of an adoption in accordance with section 6 a certified copy of the entry in the register signed by the Registrar shall be delivered or sent to the person or spouses who applied for such registration, and a certified copy of the entry in the register shall be sent, within such period as may be prescribed, to the Registrar General; and all such certified copies shall constitute the adoption register of the Registrar General. (2) If the particulars contained in a certified copy of the entry in the register in respect of any adoption, upon being forwarded to the Registrar General in accordance with subsection (1), appear to the Registrar General to be identical with those of an adoption the registration of which has been cancelled in accordance with this Act, he shall return the said certified copy to the Registrar by whom it was sent together with particulars of the adoption the 8 ACT 253 Laws of Malaysia registration of which has been cancelled and the said Registrar shall thereupon call upon the parties to show cause why the registration of the said adoption should not be cancelled and if the parties fail to show cause the Registrar shall cancel the registration of the said adoption. Parties and witnesses bound to speak the truth 8. (1) Every person who gives evidence before the Registrar shall be bound to state the truth and to answer truthfully all questions which the Registrar may put to him. (2) Any person who gives any evidence in any enquiry under this Act which he knows to be untrue, or who does any other act, which if done in a judicial proceeding would be punishable under Chapter XI of the Penal Code [Act 574], shall be punishable on conviction as provided in that Chapter in the same way as if the act had been done in or in relation to a judicial proceeding. Powers of Registrar 9.  For the purposes of this Act every Registrar appointed under this Act shall have all the powers of a First Class Magistrate for the summoning and examination of witnesses and the administration of oaths and affirmations. Refusal of registration 10. (1) If the Registrar is not satisfied of the truth of any statement made to him he may refuse to register the adoption or if he requires evidence with regard to any particulars required to be registered he may postpone registration and he may call for any further evidence that he thinks necessary: Provided that the Registrar shall record in the Registrar's note book his reasons for any such refusal or postponement. (2) The Registrar shall not register any adoption unless the person applying for registration, or in the case of an application by two spouses, one of the spouses-- (a) has attained the age of twenty-five years and is at least eighteen years older than the child in respect of whom the application is made; Registration of Adoptions 9 (b) has attained the age of twenty-one years and is a brother, sister, uncle or aunt, whether by consanguinity or affinity, of the child, or, if the child is illegitimate, a person who would be so related if the child were legitimate; or (c) is the mother or father of the child. (3) The Registrar shall not register any adoption in respect of any person or of any child not ordinarily resident in Peninsular Malaysia. (4) The Registrar shall not register any adoption in respect of any child who has been the subject of an adoption order made in accordance with the Adoption Act 1952 [Act 257]. (5) There shall be no appeal from the cancellation by a Registrar of the registration of an adoption or from the refusal of a Registrar to register an adoption, but such refusal shall not debar the same or another Registrar from registering it if subsequently satisfied that the grounds for his refusal to register either did not exist or have since been removed. Validity of an adoption not affected by registration or non- registration 11.  Neither the registration of nor the omission to register any adoption shall affect the validity of the adoption; and, provided that the identity of the adopted child, the person who adopted it and the consenting parties are established with reasonable certainty by the particulars recorded in the Registrar's note book, no error in the particulars recorded in the Register nor any omission to record any particular which ought to have been recorded shall affect the validity of the registration of the adoption. Search for and certified copy of entry in adoption registers 12. (1) The Registrar General and every Registrar shall cause indices to be made of the registers of adoptions kept by them, and any person upon application to the Registrar General or a Registrar, and upon payment of the prescribed fee shall be entitled to have a search made in the adoption register and index thereof, and to have a certified copy of any entry in such register. 10 ACT 253 Laws of Malaysia (2) Every certified copy of any entry in a register of adoptions, if such copy purports to be signed by any person entrusted under this Act with the custody of any register of adoptions, shall be received for all purposes and in all courts as evidence of the adoption to which it relates, and, where the entry contains a record of the date of the birth of that adopted child, shall be received not only as evidence of the adoption but also as evidence of the date of the birth of the adopted child, without further proof of such register or of any entry therein or of such signature, but not of the validity of such adoption: but a court may, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, presume any adoption so registered to have been valid and the onus of proving that there was no such valid adoption shall be on the person alleging the same. Amendment of register 13. (1) Any Registrar having custody of a register in which an adoption has been registered in accordance with this Act may, on application in the prescribed manner and on payment of the prescribed fee by the person or spouses who applied for such registration or by the child, amend the register by the correction of any error in the particulars contained therein; and where an entry in the register is so amended a certified copy of the amended entry in the register signed by the Registrar shall be delivered or sent to the person or spouses or to the child and a certified copy of the amended entry in the register shall be sent, within such period as may be prescribed, to the Registrar General. (2) The Attorney General may apply to a Sessions Court to cancel the registration of any adoption in such manner as may be provided by rules made under the Rules Committee and the court shall send a copy of the order made in every such application to the Registrar by whom such adoption was registered and to the Registrar General and the register shall be amended by cancelling the registration of such adoption if the court so orders. (3) Where in any proceedings it appears to a court not below the court of a First Class Magistrate that an adoption registered in accordance with this Act is invalid and the court so orders, a copy of the said order shall be sent to the Registrar by whom such adoption was registered and to the Registrar General and the register shall be amended by cancelling the registration of such adoption. Registration of Adoptions 11 (4) Any person, whether or not a party to the proceedings, who is aggrieved by any decision of a court under subsection (2) or (3) may appeal to the High Court or to the Federal Court (as the case may be) and from the High Court to the Federal Court, in such manner as may be provided by rules made under the Rules Committee. Offences and penalties 14.