Public Registry accessible 24 hours

The Public Registry has a new on-line site, www.certifikati.gov.mt accessible through the Government portal www.gov.mt. This service, part of the e-Government Programme, will enable users to order and pay for birth, marriage and death certificates over the Internet.

Each certificate can be ordered as normal or complete and an e-mail notification will be sent as soon as the certificate has been dispatched from the Public Registry.

Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg said that there were some 113,000 requests for certificates during 2002, which was achieved thanks to the introduction of modernisation processes and the overall effort so that government services become more efficient.

"Over 90 per cent of government services will soon be accessible through Internet," said Justice and Local Government Minister Austin Gatt. He envisaged that the e-Public Registry service is one of the on-line services that will eventually be in high demand. Dr Gatt added that today the government is in a position to offer this electronic service due to departmental improvement which was thoroughly computerised.

This was one of the main and important projects as a target for the eEurope+ project. In fact, Dr Gatt has put in considerable effort so that from next April, 90 per cent of government services would be online. This objective places Malta at the forefront among EU applicant countries and even ahead of some EU member countries.

Dr Gatt explained that this service was essential for both the Maltese public and Maltese emigrants, since even those living abroad are now able to acquire certificates by ordering online.