Section 1: In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires-

“Authority” means the National Civil Registration Authority established by section 2; “birth” means live birth or still birth; “Director-General” means the person appointed by the President to be Director-General under Section 16; “child” means a person below the age of 18; “civil register” means a Register of Adoptions, Register of Births, Register of Deaths, Register of Divorces, Register of Marriages or Register of nullities as the case may be, kept under this Act; “Civil Registration System” means the Integrated National Civil Registration System established under subsection (1) of section 37 by which the government records the vital events of its citizens and residents; “death” means the permanent disappearance of all evidence of life at any time after live-birth has taken place; “district” meansWestern Rural, Western Urban or any of the administrative district of the provinces; “house” means any building or a part of a building where such part is occupied separately from the rest and includes a correctional facility, hospital, lunatic asylum, public or charitable institution; “informant” means a person under duty to give information concerning the happening of an event under this Act; 2 3 “live birth” means the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of conception, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy, which, after such expulsion or extraction breathes or shows any other evidence of life; “National Identification Number” means the unique administrative identifier for individuals and a component of the Integrated National Civil Registration System, issued by the Authority , under paragraph (b) of section 14 to every citizen and resident in Sierra Leone; “Minister” means the Minister responsible for internal affairs; “Personal Registration File” means the Personal Registration File referred to in section 34; “public institution” includes a correctional facility, hospital and such other public or charitable institution as may be prescribed; “registration officer” means a registration officer appointed under this Act; “registration” means registration by the Director- General or any Registration Officer. “relative” includes a relative by marriage or adoption; “still birth” means the birth of a child which has issued forth from its mother after twenty-eight weeks of pregnancy and which did not at any time after being completely expelled from its mother, breathe or show any other signs of life and “stillborn” shall be construed accordingly; Interpretation. PART II – ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NATIONAL CIVIL REGISTRATION AUTHORITY