Deaths

Under the provisions of the Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Act 1995, every death occurring in New Zealand must be registered.

A 'Notification of Death for Registration' form (BDM28) must be completed (generally by the funeral director) and forwarded to the registrars at Births, Deaths, and Marriages (a division of the Department of Internal Affairs) within three working days after the disposal of the body concerned.

Stats NZ receives a monthly electronic file of registered deaths from Births, Deaths, and Marriages which includes some but not all of the information collected on the BDM28. Stats NZ has the responsibility for processing and publishing death statistics derived from the death registrations. Statistics New Zealand does not code all the information supplied by Internal Affairs.

Death data are published quarterly and unless otherwise stated refer to deaths by date of registration not the date of death.

Requirements from the Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Act 1995

(i) Manner of Notification of Death (Section 47)

• (1) A person notifying a Registrar of a death shall do so – (a) By completing and signing the prescribed form and giving, sending, or posting it to the Registrar; or (b) By se n ding the prescribed information relating to the death to the Registrar by an electronic means approved by the Registrar-General.
• (2) Subject to subsection (3) of this section, a person who completes and signs the prescribed from and posts it to the Registrar shall be deemed to do so at the time the form would be received by the Registrar in the normal course of post.
• (3) Where – (a) Any person has notified a Registrar of a death by completing and signing the prescribed form and se n ding or posting it to a Registrar; but (b) It has not arrived or has been lost or destroyed, – a Registrar may authorise the person, or any other person required by any of sections 42 to 45 of this Act to notify a Registrar of the death, to do so as if the form has never been sent or posted; and in that case the person concerned may do so.

(ii) Time Within Which Death to be Notified (Section 48)

• (1) A person required by section (42)1 of this Act to notify a death shall do so within 3 working days after the disposal of the body concerned.
• (2) A coroner required by section 44 of this Act to notify a death shall do so within 3 working days of the completion of the inquest concerned.
• (3) If the Register-General is satisfied that – (a) Any death in New Zealand has not previously been registered; or (b) The death of a person ordinarily resident in New Zealand occurred in a place outside New Zealand where... (i) There was no system for recording information relating to deaths; or (ii) The system for recording information relating to deaths did not apply to the person, – the death may be notified at any time; but (without limiting the generality of section 82 of this Act) the Register-General may decline to allow information relating to it to be recorded if not satisfied that its registration is appropriate.