The Government today gazetted a bill to propose the extension of the statutory time limit for the registration of deaths from natural causes from 24 hours to 14 days.

It also proposes to remove the requirement for registration of births and deaths applicants to attend the registries in person.

The Security Bureau said that relaxing the time limit for the registration of deaths from natural causes will allow relatives more time to handle after-death arrangements without running the risk of unintentionally breaching the law.

Separately, the bill seeks to reflect the prevailing practice by specifying the duties for death registration with respect to the cause of death as opposed to where the death took place.

Modernising the death registration regime through the proposed amendment can provide the legal basis for the introduction of electronic services for registration of births and deaths.

The bureau added: “We also aim to provide more convenient services to the public by enabling the electronic submission of applications for registration of births and deaths.”

The Births & Deaths Registration (Amendment) Bill 2022 will be introduced into the Legislative Council for the first and second readings on November 30.