the Civil Status Law requires that the nationality of a child’s parents is recorded in the civil registers, the law does not allow this information on parents’ nationality to be included on the birth certificate copy issued to individuals (unless a request is made by legal descendants of an individual or by a court) (Article 46). In practice, however, this distinction is often not followed, given that there is no standard form for birth certificate copies and local civil registration offices can develop their own forms. The act of declaring a child’s birth is to be free of charge according to Ivorian law, and individuals should in principle only pay the nominal fee of a fiscal stamp to obtain a birth certificate copy at the time of declaration or subsequently (which currently stands at 500 CFA Francs, or around 1 US Dollar). Acquiring a birth certificate copy (which incurs a nominal fee) is not an obligation, although this is often unknown, resulting in the reluctance among some to even declare a child’s birth within the three-month legal limit. In practice, however, additional fees are often levied at the local level, such as fees for research, transcription, printing, or to cover transportation costs of civil registrars who travel to villages for the purpose of registering births and issuing birth certificate copies. Individuals whose births have not been declared within three months can no longer register their birth before local civil registrars. Rather, they must go to the local courts to obtain a jugement supplétif, or late birth certificate, allowing for the late birth registration of a birth in the local civil register.112 Individuals can obtain a copy of their jugement supplétif from the court. It is typically more expensive to go through the process of obtaining a jugement supplétif proving one’s birth than following the procedure proscribed by law within three months of a child’s birth before local civil registrars. The Ministry of Justice seeks to regulate the tariffs of judicial acts, which should range from 500 CFA Francs (approximately 1 US Dollar) to obtain a regular birth certificate copy, up to 5,000 CFA Francs (approximately 10 US Dollars) to obtain a jugement supplétif in the case of those under 15.113 However these attempts to regulate costs through official instructions and their dissemination and display in courts and civil registration offices have been unsuccessful. In practice, the amount charged by courts varies greatly depending on the local jurisdiction and often on the age of the person concerned, as the cost of jugements supplétifs is not regulated for those over 15. It can range from 3,000/5,000 CFA Francs (approximately six to ten US Dollars) to 30,000 or even 50,000 CFA Francs (or about 60 to 100 US Dollars). Audiences foraines, or mobile court hearings, organized by the government, NGOs, or UN agencies are a common way of facilitating free or cheaper access to late birth certificates by bringing judges, doctors (required to establish applicants’ age), and clerks to towns and villages where there is a high demand for late birth registration, and covering all or part of the costs entailed to receive hundreds of birth declarations a day. Côte d’Ivoire’s Civil Status Law also requires that foundlings, defined in Article 46 as found newborns, also comply with the normal birth registration procedures. It is the person who finds such a newborn who should take the foundling to the civil registration office in the location where the baby is found. An “affidavit of discovery” is drawn up indicating the date, hour, place, and circumstances in which a child is found, apparent age, and any other information about the baby’s identification, as well as the name of the person or authority who found the baby. From this 112 Articles 82-84 of the Civil Status Law. Typically, an individual should obtain an attestation of the local civil registrar that the person’s birth was not registered within the three-month deadline, known as a certificate of unsuccessful research (certificat de recherches infructueuses), then go to the local court to present witness testimony as to circumstances of birth as required by law. The court issues a jugement supplétif, to be transmitted to the local civil registration office for transcription in the local registers. 113 Décret No. 2013-279 du 24 avril 2013 portant tarification des émoluments et frais de justice en matière civile, commerciale, administrative et sociale tel que modifié par le décret no. 2014-259 du 14 mai 2014. 35