Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, Aleksandar Martinović, Minister of Information and Telecommunications, Mihailo Jovanović, and Acting Director of the Office for Information Technologies and eGovernment, Milan Latinović, have attended today the promotional event for a new service on the eGovernment Portal – eCertificate from the Civil Records.
The service makes it possible to submit a request for issuing the birth, marriage or death certificate through the eGovernment Portal, while the citizens can choose whether they want to receive the certificates in electronic form in their eInbox, or in physical form by registered mail.
“This is another result of the Public Administration Reform, which the Ministry is carrying out precisely with the aim of enabling citizens to complete any procedure they have with the administration in the fastest and most efficient way, while saving a significant amount of time and money. In the future, the emphasis will also be on digitization and improvement of services for citizens, while our further results must be aimed at improving the quality of life of citizens and full respect for their rights,” minister Martinović has stressed.
In order for citizens to use this service via the eGovernment Portal, they must be registered as users and logged in with the ConsentID mobile application or a qualified electronic certificate.
“This is a new step forward in complete digitization and the creation of an efficient, transparent and economical public administration that is available to its citizens via mobile phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. For the first time ever, citizens can obtain a certificate from Civil Records in electronic form via the eGovernment Portal, and these certificates are completely free-of-charge, i.e. citizens are exempt from paying administrative fees, regardless of the purpose for which they request the issuance of this document,” Minister Jovanović has said.
Users of the eGovernment Portal who want to use this service must choose whether they want to receive the certificate in electronic or physical form. If they choose the electronic form of issuance of the certificate from the Civil Records, the certificate shall be delivered to their eInbox on the eGovernment Portal completely free-of-charge, without paying an administrative fee for issuing the said document. A certificate in electronic form is considered a public document in electronic form, and has the power of evidence of the original document in accordance with the law. It can be used in conducting electronic business and when communicating electronically with authorities, while the printed copy represents its physical copy. The certificate in electronic form contains the electronic signature of the registrar and a QR code, similar to Digital Green Certificates. Thanks to the QR code, it is now possible to check the authenticity of the data contained on the printed/physical copy of the documents.
If the user chooses a physical form of issuance of the certificate from the Civil Records, the certificate shall be delivered by registered mail to the address specified in the request. For issuing a certificate in physical form, a legally prescribed fee is charged, except in special cases, which depends on the purpose of issuing the certificate. If the purpose of issuing a certificate in physical form, which the user selects from the drop-down menu when submitting the request, does not constitute grounds for exemption from paying the fee, the payment order data shall be generated and it will be necessary for the user to make a payment in order for his request for the issuance of a certificate in physical form to be forwarded to the competent registrar for further action, i.e. in order for the user to receive a service. Users can pay administrative fees electronically with any credit card. In addition to himself, the user can submit a request for the issuance of a certificate for his spouse and blood relatives in the direct line ‒ child, father or mother, while in case of submitting a request for a brother or sister, a certificate of guardianship or a power of attorney must be provided.
The deadline for the competent registrar to act upon the received request is 8 days; however, if the user has chosen the physical form of the certificate, in addition to the stated deadline, it is necessary to take into account the time required for the delivery of the registered mail.
Photo gallery – source: MIT
