Adoption Act, 1991

Register of Foreign Adoptions.

6.—(1) The Board shall establish and maintain a register (to be known as the Register of Foreign Adoptions).

(2) (a) If, on application to the Board in that behalf, in relation to an adoption effected outside the State, being an application made by the person who was the subject of the adoption or a person by whom a person was adopted pursuant to the adoption or any other person having an interest in the matter, the Board is satisfied that—

(i) the adoption is a foreign adoption to which section 2 , 3 or 4 of this Act applies, or

(ii) the adoption is a foreign adoption to which section 5 of this Act applies,

then, unless (in a case to which clause (II) of section 5 (1) (iii) of this Act applies) the Board is satisfied that the relevant circumstances have so changed since the date of the declaration under that clause that it would not be proper, having regard to section 13 of the Principal Act and section 10 of this Act, an entry shall be made in the Register with respect to the adoption.

(b) If the Court so directs under section 7 of this Act, an entry shall be made in the Register concerning a specified foreign adoption.

(3) An entry in the Register shall be in such form and contain such particulars as may be prescribed by rules made under section 5 of the Principal Act.

(4) A person making an application to the Board under this section shall furnish the Board with such information as the Board may reasonably require and the information shall be in such form (if any) as may be specified by the Board.

(5) An error in an entry in the Register may be corrected and, if the Court so directs, a specified correction shall be made in the Register.

(6) If the Board is satisfied that an adoption in relation to which there is an entry in the Register has been set aside, annulled or otherwise rendered void under and in accordance with the law of the place where it was effected or if the Court so directs under section 7 of this Act in relation to an entry in the Register, the entry shall be cancelled.

(7) A document purporting to be a copy, and to be certified by an officer of the Board to be a true copy, of an entry in the Register—

(a) shall be evidence of the fact that the adoption to which it relates is a foreign adoption and is deemed by this Act to have been effected by a valid adoption order made on the date specified in the copy, and

(b) shall be issued by the Board, to any person on application by him to it in that behalf and on payment by him to it of such fee as may be specified by the Board with the consent of the Minister,

and any requirement of the law for the production of a certificate of birth shall be satisfied by the production of such a document.

(8) Section 20 of the Principal Act shall apply to an application under subsection (2) of this section as it applies to an application for an adoption order with the modification that the Board shall refer any question in relation to public policy arising on such an application to the High Court for determination and with any other necessary modification.