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DIOCESAN DATA PROTECTION ACT GUIDANCE

REQUEST FOR COPIES OF BAPTISM, CONFIRMATION OR MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES.

Personal Requests (Restricted)

From time to time, many people find it necessary to request a copy of a Certificate of Baptism, or a record of their Confirmation or Marriage in Church. Most commonly, this will be in connection with a marriage or a school application.

In order to comply with the requirements of the Data Protection Act, all such requests need to be made in writing and certificates can only be issued to those named on the record – for instance, the person who was baptised, or, in the case of someone under the age of 16, their parent or guardian. Because requests need to be signed and we need to retain a written record of all requests for access to our sacramental registers, we are unable to accept requests by phone or e-mail.

Research / Family Tree Requests (Partially Restricted)

Once an individual is deceased, their personal data is no longer covered by the Data Protection Act. However, the impact on living relatives should be considered prior to disclosure. Personal information contained in a record of burials may be considered sensitive or liable to cause distress. We need to take into consideration the implications associated with that data. Within data protection protocols a lifetime is assumed to be 100 years, therefore the Diocese restricted periods are as follows:- Baptism Certificates 100 years, Confirmation Certificates 90 years, Marriage Certificates 85 years.