Consular Functions

(i) certify, attest, authenticate or do any other such act to validate any document;

(ii) translate any document from the Sinhala or Tamil language into any other language ;

(iii) translate any document from any other language into the Sinhala or Tamil language ;

(iv) certify the accuracy of a translation from the Sinhala or Tamil language into any other language ; or

(v) certify the accuracy of a translation from any other language to the Sinhala or Tamil language.

(1) Every diplomatic or consular officer shall be deemed to be ex officio a Justice of the Peace for the Republic of Sri Lanka and accordingly may administer any oath or affirmation or take any affidavit and such oath or . affirmation or such affidavit shall be deemed to have been administered or taken, as the case may be, in Sri Lanka.

(2) Any diplomatic or consular officer administering an oath or affirmation or taking an affidavit under the provisions of subsection (1) shall not be held responsible for the truth of the contents, or the accuracy, of any statement made under such oath or affirmation or recorded in such affidavit.

(1) Every diplomatic or consular officer shall be deemed to be an Additional District Registrar for any district in Sri Lanka within the meaning of the Marriage Registration Ordinance (Chapter 112) and the Kandyan Marriage and Divorce Act (Chapter 113) and accordingly such diplomatic or consular officer may, notwithstanding the provisions of section 23 of that Ordinance and section 16 of that Act, solemnize and register, in the Sinhala. Tamil or English language, any marriage under that Ordinance or Act, as the case may be, in the foreign country to which he is appointed or accredited, where at least one of the parties to the marriage is a citizen of Sri Lanka, as though such marriage was solemnized and registered in any district in Sri Lanka,

(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (Chapter 115), other than the provisions of subsection (1) of section 8 of that Act relating to capacity, every diplomatic or consular officer shall be deemed to be a Registrar within the meaning of that Act, and accordingly such diplomatic or consular officer may register in the Sinhala, Tamil or English language, any marriage under that Act, in the foreign country to which he is appointed or accredited, Where at least one of the parties to the marriage is a citizen of Sri Lanka and whether the parties are inhabitants of Sri Lanka or not, as though such marriage were registered in any district in Sri Lanka.

(3) The provisions of the Marriage Registration Ordinance, the Kandyan Marriage and Divorce Act, and the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act shall, mutatis mutandis, apply to and in relation to the solemnization and registration, or registration as the case may be, of a marriage referred to in subsections (1) and (2).

(4) Every diplomatic or consular officer shall, in the performance of his functions under subsection (1), comply with the provisions of the Marriage Registration Ordinance, the Kandyan Marriage and Divorce Act and the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act, as the case may be.

(1) Where a marriage is forbidden under section 29, or a caveat is entered under section 30, of the Marriage Registration Ordinance, the diplomatic or consular officer shall, notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1) of section 31 of that Ordinance, refuse to issue a certificate for the solemnization of the marriage intended to be had, and shall forthwith make report of the objection to the District Judge of the district of Colombo. Such report shall be in the form K in the First Schedule to the said Ordinance, and shall be accompanied by a copy of the notice of marriage and of the notice forbidding the marriage or of the caveat entered.

(2) The provisions of subsections (2), (3), (4) and (5) of section 31 of the Marriage Registration Ordinance shall, mutatis mutandis, apply to and in relation to any report made under subsection (1) of this section.

(1) Every diplomatic or consular officer shall be deemed to he an Additional District Registrar for any district in Sri Lanka within the meaning of the Birth and Deaths Registration Act (Chapter 110) and accordingly such diplomatic or consular officer may register the birth or death of a citizen of Sri Lanka occurring in the foreign country to which he is appointed or accredited, as though such registration were made in Sri Lanka.

(2) The provisions of the Births and Deaths Registration Act shall, mutatis mutandis, apply to and in relation to the registration of any birth or death referred to in subsection (1).

(3) Every diplomatic or consular officer shall, in the performance of his functions under subsection (1), comply with the provisions of the Births and Deaths Registration Act.

(1) Any person who fraudulently or by willful act as omission knowingly misleads a diplomatic or consular officer to perform any consular function shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable, on conviction by the High Court, to imprisonment of either description for a term not exceeding five years, or to a fine not exceeding fifty thousand rupees or to both such imprisonment and fine.

(2) Any person who fraudulently alters the seal or signature of any diplomatic or consular officer shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable, on conviction by the High Court, to imprisonment of either description for a term not exceeding five years.

(3) Any offence referred to in this section shall be deemed to be an extraditable offence within the meaning of section 6 of the Extradition Law, No. 8 of 1977.

(1) The Minister may make regulations in respect of

(2) Every regulation made by the Minister under sub section (1) shall be published in the Gazette and shall come into operation on the date of such publication or on such later date as may be specified in the regulation.

(3) Every regulation made by the Minister under sub section (1) shall, as soon as convenient after its publication in the Gazette, be brought before Parliament for approval. Any regulation which is not so approved shall be deemed to be rescinded as from the date of disapproval but without prejudice to anything previously done there under. Notification of the date on which a regulation is deemed to be rescinded shall be published in the Gazette.