Libro Primero · Título II · Capítulo XI Párrafo II. Registro de nacimientos

The declaration of the birth of a child shall be made by the father or the mother, or in the absence of one or the other, by the persons who attended the childbirth.

The parents may fulfill this obligation through a special agent; but the registrar shall summon them so that within a term not exceeding sixty days, they ratify the declaration.

The owners or administrators of rural estates and the auxiliary mayors of hamlets, villages and other places also have the obligation to report births occurring in their locality.

Births occurring in hospitals, maternity homes, jails or other similar establishments shall be declared by their respective administrators.

No statement regarding the status of the children or the civil status of the parents shall be recorded in the birth records, nor in any document concerning parentage.

In case of doubt or where the data provided are suspected of falsity, the registrar shall go, accompanied by witnesses, to the place where the child was born, to verify the veracity of the declaration.

The administrators of orphan asylums and, in general, any person who finds an abandoned newborn, or in whose house it has been exposed, are obligated to declare the fact and to exhibit at the office of the Register the clothes, documents and other objects with which it was found, all of which shall be described in the respective record.

The record of registration of the birth shall state:

1º.The place, date, day and time when the birth occurred and whether it was single or multiple;

2º.The sex and name of the newborn;

3º.The name, surnames, origin, occupation and residence of the parents;

4º.The hospital establishment where the event occurred, or the names of the physician, midwife or other person who participated in the delivery. If it concerns children born outside of marriage, the father shall not be designated in the entry, except when he makes the declaration himself or through a special agent; and

5º.Signature or fingerprint of the person giving the notice and signature of the Civil Registrar or facsimile or other means of reproduction thereof.

The registration of two or more newborns from the same delivery shall be made in a separate entry for each of them, specially noting any bodily mark that may contribute to identifying them.

The death of the newborn does not exempt from the obligation to register the birth and the death.

If a birth occurs during a journey, it shall be registered in the Register in whose municipal jurisdiction the delivery took place.

If the birth of a Guatemalan should occur outside the Republic, the following procedure shall be followed:

1º.In case of birth on board a vessel navigating in waters of the Republic, it shall be the obligation of the captain of the vessel to bring it to the knowledge of the authority of the first national port to which it arrives, so that it may be registered in the Civil Register of the port;

2º.If the birth should have occurred on the high seas or in foreign jurisdictional waters on a vessel navigating under the flag of the Republic, the captain shall have the same obligation;

3º.If the birth should occur on a vessel navigating under a foreign flag in non-jurisdictional waters, the report of the birth shall be given by the parents, relatives, persons in charge of the newborn or any person who was on board, at the first place where the vessel arrives and there is a consulate of Guatemala; and,

4º.The same rules shall be observed if the birth should occur on board an aircraft.

If the newborn has or has had one or more siblings of the same name, this circumstance shall be recorded in the birth certificate and reference shall also be made, where applicable, to the death of the homonymous siblings.