Ukrainians will be able to register marriage online through Diia: the idea will be officially enshrined in law
A draft law No. 15306 "On Amendments to the Family Code of Ukraine and the Law of Ukraine "On State Registration of Civil Status Acts" has been registered in the Verkhovna Rada, aimed at regulating the conduct of state marriage registration in electronic form through the Unified State Web Portal of Electronic Services.
The authors explain the need for such changes by the necessity to ensure the right to marriage for citizens who, due to the war, are in different regions of Ukraine or abroad, as well as the results of the implementation of the experimental project "Marriage Online." According to the explanatory note, over 55 thousand couples have already used the service during the experiment.
Electronic marriage registration
The draft law proposes to supplement the Family Code of Ukraine with a provision that the application for marriage registration can be submitted not only personally to the civil status registration authority but also in electronic form. The procedure for submitting such an application and conducting registration is to be approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.
At the same time, it is established that submission of an electronic application through a representative is not allowed.
For online marriage registration, a separate term is provided: it can be conducted no earlier than three calendar days from the date chosen when submitting the application through the electronic service.
Ceremony in video conference format
One of the main innovations of the draft law is the legislative enshrinement of the remote procedure for concluding marriage.
It is proposed to establish that state marriage registration and the individual registration ceremony are conducted through the Unified State Web Portal of Electronic Services by means of participation of the bride and groom and the civil status registration officer in a real-time video conference.
Participation in such a procedure will only be possible after electronic identification and authentication using remote qualified electronic signatures "Diia.Sign" ("Diia ID").
How consent to marriage will be confirmed
The draft law separately regulates the procedure for recording the will of the bride and groom.
To confirm free consent to state marriage registration, the bride and groom will sign the marriage record, drawn up in electronic form, by applying remote qualified electronic signatures "Diia.Sign" ("Diia ID"). After that, the marriage record will be signed by the civil status registration officer using a qualified electronic signature.
What happens in case of technical problems
Certain provisions of the draft law define the procedure in case of disruption of the online ceremony.
If one of the bride or groom, both of them, or the civil status registration officer do not join the video conference within 15 minutes from its start, or if it becomes impossible to conduct it due to technical reasons that could not be resolved within this time, the marriage registration can be postponed to another date upon a written application.
At the same time, the postponement period cannot exceed one year from the date of submission of the marriage registration application.
Remarriage and use of state registers
The draft law clarifies the procedure for state registration of remarriage.
It is envisaged that such registration will be carried out based on information about the termination of the previous marriage contained in the State Register of Civil Status Acts of Citizens. Documents confirming the termination of the previous marriage will be submitted only if the corresponding record is absent in the register or if the termination of the marriage occurred under the legislation of a foreign state.
In addition, the draft law provides for the possibility of submitting applications for amendments to civil status records through the Unified State Web Portal of Electronic Services.
Thus, the project effectively completes the transition from the experimental format of service provision to its full legislative regulation.
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