Chapter 2 The Right to Nationality and Judgment TC/0168/13 of the Constitutional Court | 77 163. In order to obtain a birth certificate, parents must provide the registry offices with proof of their own identity and proof of the child’s birth. 169 Once these documentation requirements have been met, the registry office issues the child’s official birth certificate, which is the first time the child is officially identified as a Dominican national. Birth certificates are the principal means of identification for all Dominican nationals under the age of 18. 164. Upon reaching the age of 18, all Dominicans are required to apply for an identity and voter registration card. In the Dominican Republic, the identity and voter registration card serves to identify the person and prove that he or she is registered to vote, a requirement under amended Law No. 6125 of 1962, on the Personal Identification Card, and Law No. 8-92, on the Identity and Voter Registration Card. The latter amended the former in that it authorized the Central Electoral Board to combine the personal identification card and the voter registration card into a single document called the “Identity and Voter Registration Card.” 165. To obtain the card, applicants must first present a certified copy of their birth certificate issued by the Central Electoral Board, specifically for the purpose of requesting the card. 170 Possession of a valid card is mandatory under the law; if one is found without the card on his or her person, one can be either fined, sent to prison or even deported. 171 In the case of adults, the Dominican identity and voter registration card is required in order to exercise many civil, political, social and economic rights. The cards are needed to vote and run for public office, to be enrolled in a university, to pay into the Dominican social security system, to open a bank account and acquire or transfer property, apply for a passport, to make a sworn statement before the courts, to marry or divorce, to register the birth of one’s child, and so on. 166. Starting in 2007, the Central Electoral Board approved a number of administrative measures, specifically Circular No. 17-2007 of March 29, 2007, and Resolution No. 12-2007 of December 10, 2007, introducing an administrative procedure to temporarily suspend further issuance of vital records issued in the past that contained irregularities or defects that now made it impossible for them to be legally issued. 172 Circular 17 established, among other things, that “2. The present Administrative Chamber has received complaints that in certain Civil Registry 169 170 171 172 Hospitals and other medical institutions provide documents known as records of birth. If the child is born at home, the parents may also provide sworn statements taken from persons who witnessed the birth. This special copy of the birth certificate is known as the “certificate of a declaration of birth for purposes of an identity card.” The JCE will not issue it until a few months before the bearer of the card is to apply for his or her identity card. Article 1 of 1962 Law No. 6125 on Personal Identification Card, as amended by Law No. 17 of 1963, concerning the Personal Identity Card, made it mandatory to have the identity card, use it and carry it on its person. Under Article 32 of the same law, persons who do not comply with the requirement to have the document on one’s person and to show it, shall face a penalty of imprisonment for a period ranging from 5 to 30 days. These requirements were not changed when the identity card laws were amended in 1964, 1971, 1977, 1985, 1992 and 2001. Dominican Republic, Central Electoral Board, Resolution No. 12/2007, which establishes the procedure for provisionally suspending issuance of birth, marriage and death certificates that are defective or were issued improperly. December 10, 2007, Operative paragraph one. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights | IACHR