Capítulo X. De las inscripciones en él Registro CIVIL de las personas

The Civil Registry of Persons is public, and in it are registered the facts and acts relating to the civil status, civil capacity and other personal identification data of natural persons; the regulations on registrations shall determine matters in that regard.

The registration of the events and acts concerning civil status, civil capacity and other identification data of natural persons, as well as any modifications thereto, is mandatory before the Civil Registry of Persons. The right to request that such events and acts be registered is not subject to prescription and cannot be waived. Registrations before the Civil Registries of Persons are entirely free of charge if they are made within the legal time limit.

The failure to register with the Civil Registry of Persons prevents the obtaining of the Personal Identification Document and the issuance of any certification by RENAP.

The following shall be registered in the Civil Registry of Persons:

a)Births, within a time limit of no more than thirty (30) days from their occurrence;

b)Marriages and de facto unions;

c)Deaths;

d)Judicial decisions declaring absence and presumed death;

e)Judgments imposing suspension or loss of parental authority, and decisions reinstating it;

f)Decisions declaring the nullity and insubsistence of marriage or of the de facto union, divorce, separation, and subsequent reconciliation;

g)Changes of name or personal identifications;

h)The decision declaring the determination of age;

i)The acknowledgment of children;

j)Adoptions;

k)Marriage settlements;

l)Judgments of parentage;

m)Domiciled foreign nationals;

n)The decision declaring temporary or permanent interdiction;

o)The appointment, removal, and resignation of the guardian, deputy guardian, and custodians;

p)The declaration of bankruptcy and its rehabilitation; and,

q)Acts that, in general, modify the civil status and civil capacity of natural persons.

All of the foregoing registrations shall be entered in the individual record that shall be created for each registered citizen.

Birth registrations must be made within sixty (60) days following the birth, and may be recorded at the place where the birth occurred or at the place where the parents, or the persons who exercise parental authority, have their residence. All other registrations relating to civil status and civil capacity, as well as the certifications derived therefrom, may be made at any of the Civil Registries of Persons nationwide.

The registration of births occurring abroad may be made at the request of a party, before the respective consular agent or directly before the RENAP. It shall be governed by the respective regulation.

The application for registration of the birth of minors shall be made by both parents; in the absence of one of them, or in the case of a single mother, the registration shall be made by the latter. In case of orphanhood, unknown parents, or abandonment, the application for registration of the birth may be made by the minor's ascendants, the minor's siblings who are of legal age, or the Procurador General de la Nación (Procurator General of the Nation).

The registrations of births occurring in public and private hospitals, in the cantonal centers of the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance, and in those of the Guatemalan Social Security Institute -IGSS-, shall be carried out mandatorily and ex officio, within three (3) days after the birth, at the Auxiliary Offices of the Civil Registry of Persons established in said facilities. Failure to comply with this obligation shall entail the imposition of a fine for each omission committed, which may not be less than five hundred quetzales (Q.500.00) and which shall be imposed on the offender by the Board of Directors, without prejudice to the criminal and civil liability that may apply.

The National Registry of Persons -RENAP- shall require public and private hospitals, as well as other health care centers mentioned in this Law, to have a unit in charge of carrying out the recording of the registrations of births and deaths that occur in them, without this constituting an employment relationship with the National Registry of Persons -RENAP-. For the recording of the aforementioned acts, it shall designate this responsibility to at least one of its representatives and shall perform it in accordance with the Law and its regulations. Said unit shall have the character of an Auxiliary Office of the Civil Registry of Persons, and the person who performs such activity must be trained by the RENAP Training School.

The Board of Directors may, in its judgment, in hospitals and/or health care centers of a public nature, set up a place so that the activity of registration and recording of births and deaths that occur in them is carried out there.

Minors who were not registered within the legal time limit may be registered at the request of their parents or guardians, under the same conditions as an ordinary registration, and for that purpose must also meet the following requirements:

a)Said request shall be heard only at the offices of the Civil Registry of Persons within whose jurisdiction the birth occurred or in the place where the minor resides;

b)The applicant must prove to the Civil Registrar of Persons his or her identity and relationship to the minor;

c)The request must contain the data necessary to identify the minor and his or her parents or guardians;

d)The request must be accompanied by any one of the following documents: a baptismal certificate, a birth certificate or a school enrollment certificate stating the grades completed, a certificate from the local authorities of the municipality where the birth occurred, or, failing that, a sworn statement given by two (2) adults in the presence of the Civil Registrar of Persons.

Natural persons over eighteen (18) years of age who have not been registered may apply for such registration, observing the rules of Article 76, subparagraph d) of this Law, insofar as applicable, and any other requirements that laws or regulations establish.

Without prejudice to the provisions of the preceding article, the registration of the birth of natural persons over eighteen (18) years of age who have not been registered may be requested by both parents or by one of them, in the presence of the Civil Registrar of Persons.

The right to judicially challenge registrations made late, in accordance with Articles 76, 77 and 78 of this Law, is not subject to any statute of limitations, and may be exercised by any person whose rights are affected by such registration.

Registrations of judicial decisions shall be made only where such decisions are final and enforceable (ejecutoriadas). To that end, judges shall have, under their own responsibility, fifteen (15) days from the date on which the decision becomes final and enforceable to transmit the information to the Civil Registry of Persons. Failure to comply with said obligation shall entail the pursuit of the corresponding criminal and civil liabilities.

Rectifications or additions shall be made to the entries by virtue of a judicial or extrajudicial decision, which must be reported to the Civil Registry of Persons within a time limit not exceeding fifteen (15) days after the same has become final and enforceable (ejecutoriada).

Registry entries shall be cancelled when so ordered by a final judicial decision, or when documents that clearly and manifestly justify the cancellation are attached to the application for it.

For the issuance of certifications of registry entries, the Registry may use, in addition to direct service, any electronic system, which shall be regulated in the respective regulations.

All registrations of facts and acts relating to the civil status and civil capacity of natural persons referred to in this Law shall be made within the time limit of thirty (30) days from the occurrence of the former or the latter; otherwise, the registration shall be considered untimely. In no case shall the right to registration be lost.

All registrations made within the time limit of thirty (30) days shall be made free of charge. All untimely registrations shall have a cost, which shall be established in the respective regulations.

The Consular Agents of the Republic accredited abroad shall keep the register of births, marriages, changes of nationality and deaths of Guatemalans who are residents or transients in the countries in which the former perform their functions. For each birth, death, marriage or change of nationality that they record, they shall notify RENAP so that it may be entered into the latter's database.