Clause 5 - Subsequent issue of full certificates
Gender Recognition Bill [Lords]
3:00 pm
Dr Evan Harris (Oxford West and Abingdon, Liberal Democrat)
I think that there has been a misunderstanding. There are at least two six-month periods in the Bill. Six months is, in effect, provided for in subsection (1). Once someone gets the interim
certificate, they have six months in which to make use of it to get a decree of nullity. However, I draw the Minister's attention to subsection (2), which states:
''If an interim gender recognition certificate has been issued to a person'',
there is a period of six months in which time the marriage can be annulled for another reason, or six months for the person's spouse to die, if I may put it like that. Then there is another six months in subsection (3) after the date that the marriage is dissolved in which to apply for a full gender recognition certificate. It is those periods that we are questioning. We understand the Government's position on the initial six months in subsection (1).