Capítulo VI. Oficinas ejecutoras

The Central Registry of Persons is the office responsible for centralizing the information relating to the events and acts recorded in the Civil Registries of Persons, for organizing and maintaining the central archive, and for administering the country's database. To that end, it shall prepare and maintain the unique register of natural persons and the corresponding assignment of the unique identification code;

likewise, it shall send the approved or disapproved information to the appropriate office, for the issuance of the personal identification document or to initiate the review process. It shall be in charge of the Civil Registries of Persons established by the Board of Directors in all the municipalities of the Republic, as well as those attached to consular offices and the Registry of Citizens. It shall be headed by the Central Registrar of Persons, who holds public faith and whose operation, in addition to being governed by this article, shall be regulated by the respective regulations.

The Central Registrar of Persons shall have the following qualifications:

a)Be Guatemalan and of legal age;

b)Be a Lawyer and Notary;

c)Have a minimum of four (4) years of professional practice;

d)Be of recognized honorability;

e)Such others as the respective regulations may establish.

The Civil Registries of Persons are the offices attached to the Central Registry of Persons, responsible for recording the events and acts relating to civil status, civil capacity and other identification data of natural persons throughout the Republic, and for observing the provisions that this Law and its regulations establish. These offices shall be headed by a Civil Registrar of Persons, who holds public faith.

The Civil Registrars of Persons, referred to in the preceding article, must have the following qualifications:

a)Be Guatemalan;

b)Prove completion of secondary education; preferably be a Lawyer and Notary, or have at least three years of university studies in the professional program of Lawyer and Notary.

c)Be of recognized honorability;

d)Others that the respective regulations may establish.

The Civil Registrars of Persons referred to in Article thirty-three (33) shall have the following functions and powers:

a)To ensure the proper operation of the offices under their charge, as well as excellence in the provision of the services requested by users;

b)To sign, when so required, the certificates issued by those offices. Such certificates shall contain only the information designated by the central computer system;

c)To bring to the attention of their superior and of the corresponding RENAP offices, for decision, all inquiries or disputes that arise and that this Law and its regulations do not empower them to resolve;

d)To attend, on behalf of RENAP, those official events in their locality at which their presence is required, upon prior notice to and authorization from their superior; and,

e)Others that the regulations assign to them.

The Central Registry of Persons shall have a Department of Citizens, responsible for preparing the list of persons of legal age; and it shall be directly responsible for referring said information periodically to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.

The Directorate of Processes is the administrative unit responsible for issuing the Personal Identification Document, based on the information received from the Central Registry of Persons; it shall also organize the operation of the biometric system and of graphotechnics. It shall be governed by the respective regulations.

The Directorate of Identity Verification and Social Support is the unit responsible for hearing and resolving the problems of all natural persons whose application for registration has been denied, for any reason, by the Central Registry of Persons. To that end, it must carry out the pertinent investigations and assist the interested person so that the requested registration may be effected. It shall be governed by the respective regulation.

The Training Directorate is the unit of the National Registry of Persons responsible for training all RENAP personnel, without exception. Permanent training and updating is the primary function of this unit, and for that purpose it shall establish the School of Training of the National Registry of Persons. The registry career of RENAP is hereby instituted. This Directorate shall be governed by the respective regulations.

The Central Registry of Persons and the offices previously mentioned shall each have a Director, appointed by the Executive Director and ratified by the Board of Directors. Holding the office of these Directors is incompatible with any other public function. Candidates for popular election, persons who hold leadership positions in political organizations, and those who have held such positions within the four (4) years prior to their nomination may not be eligible for any of these offices. The Directors must be university graduate professionals with proven experience and training to perform the office for which they are designated; the obligations and powers of the Directors shall be established in the respective regulations.

The Directors of the executing offices shall be removed from their positions by the Executive Director, for any of the grounds cited in Article twenty-one (21) of this Law.