32.1-272 - Certified copies of vital records; other copies.
§ 32.1-272. Certified copies of vital records; other copies.
A. In accordance with § 32.1-271 and the regulations adopted pursuantthereto, the State Registrar or a district health department shall, uponreceipt of a written request, issue a certified copy of any vital record inthe custody of the State Registrar or of a part thereof.
Such vital records in the State Registrar's custody may be in the form oforiginals, photoprocessed reproductions or data filed by electronic means.
Each copy issued shall show the date of registration. Any copy issued from arecord marked "delayed" or "amended," except a record amended pursuant tosubsection F of this section or subsection D of § 32.1-269, shall besimilarly marked and show the effective date.
Certified copies may be issued by county and city registrars only while theoriginal record is in their possession, except that at the option of thecounty or city registrar true and complete copies of death certificates maybe retained and certified copies of such records may be issued by the countyor city registrar.
B. A certified copy of a vital record or any part thereof issued inaccordance with subsection A shall be considered for all purposes the same asthe original and shall be prima facie evidence of the facts therein stated,provided that the evidentiary value of a vital record filed more than oneyear after the event or a vital record which has been amended shall bedetermined by the judicial or administrative body or official before whom thecertificate is offered as evidence.
C. The federal agency responsible for national vital statistics may befurnished such copies or other data from the system of vital records as itmay require for national statistics if such federal agency shares in the costof collecting, processing and transmitting such data. Such data may be usedfor research and medical investigations of public health importance. No otheruse of such data shall be made by the federal agency unless authorized by theState Registrar.
D. Other federal, state and local, public or private agencies or persons inthe conduct of their official duties may, upon request and payment of areasonable fee, be furnished copies or other data from the system of vitalrecords for statistical or administrative purposes upon such terms orconditions as may be prescribed by the Board. Such copies or other data shallnot be used for purposes other than those for which they were requestedunless so authorized by the State Registrar.
In promulgating regulations relating to the terms or conditions for public orprivate agencies or persons obtaining copies of death certificates in theconduct of their official duties, the Board shall include within itsdefinition of "legal representative" (i) any attorney licensed to practicelaw in Virginia, upon presentation of his bar number and evidence of need toobtain such copy; and (ii) any funeral director or funeral service licenseelicensed to practice by the Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers, uponpresentation of evidence to so practice and evidence of being in charge offinal disposition of the registrant's dead human remains or cremains orevidence of need to obtain such copy.
E. No person shall prepare or issue any certificate which purports to be anoriginal or certified copy of a vital record except as authorized in thischapter or regulations adopted hereunder.
F. Certified copies of birth records filed before July 1, 1960, containingstatements of racial designation on the reverse thereof shall be issuedwithout such statement as a part of the certification; nor for this purposesolely shall such certification be marked "amended."
Any American Indian or Native American whose certified copy of a birth recordfiled before July 1, 1960, contains a racial designation that is incorrectmay obtain, without paying a fee, one certified copy of his birth record fromwhich such incorrect racial designation has been removed. Such certificationshall not be marked "amended" solely for this reason.
G. With the increased fees to be charged for vital records and the additionaldeposits to the Vital Statistics Automation Fund, the Board of Health shallestablish, within the district health departments, a statewide system fordecentralizing certification of vital records, when such records are preparedor issued from data in the custody of the State Registrar and the Board ofHealth.
(Code 1950, § 32-353.27; 1950, pp. 484, 485; 1954, c. 429; 1956, c. 412;1958, c. 296; 1960, c. 451; 1966, c. 353; 1972, c. 500; 1979, c. 711; 1983,c. 240; 1994, c. 373; 1997, c. 470; 1999, c. 600; 2005, c. 448.)