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The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act 2022 (Commencement and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2023

Sections13
2023 No. 88 (C. 6)

Marriage, England And Wales

Civil Partnership, England And Wales

The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act 2022 (Commencement and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2023

Made26th January 2023
The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 7(1) and (3) of the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act 20221, makes the following Regulations:

PART 1 Citation and Commencement

1 Citation

These Regulations may be cited as the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act 2022 (Commencement and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2023.

2 Commencement

The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act 2022 comes into force on 27th February 2023.

PART 2 Transitional Provisions

3 Interpretation

In this Part—
  • “the 1949 Act” means the Marriage Act 19492;
  • “the 1970 Act” means the Marriage (Registrar General’s Licence) Act 19703;
  • “the 2004 Act” means the Civil Partnership Act 20044;
  • “the 2014 Order” means the Consular Marriages and Marriages under Foreign Law (No. 2) Order 20145;
  • “the Armed Forces Order 2005” means the Civil Partnership (Armed Forces) Order 20056;
  • “marriage schedule” has the meaning assigned to it by section 31(2) of the 1949 Act;
  • “the Registration Abroad Order 2005” means the Civil Partnership (Registration Abroad and Certificates) Order 20057; and
  • “relevant date” means 27th February 2023.

Marriage Schedules

4 Where—
a a marriage schedule has been issued before the relevant date;
b the marriage has not been solemnized before the relevant date; and
c either or both parties to the proposed marriage are under the age of 18 years on the relevant date and will remain under the age of 18 for the entirety of the applicable period as determined by section 33(3)8 of the 1949 Act,
the notices of marriage and the marriage schedule are void and no person may solemnize the marriage on the authority of that marriage schedule.
5 Where—
a a marriage schedule has been issued before the relevant date;
b the marriage has not been solemnized before the relevant date; and
c either or both parties to the proposed marriage are under the age of 18 immediately before the relevant date but both will be aged 18 or over during the applicable period as determined by section 33(3) of the 1949 Act,
the notices of marriage and the marriage schedule are valid but no person may solemnize the marriage on the authority of that marriage schedule until both parties to the proposed marriage have reached the age of 18 years.

Marriage: Registrar General’s licence

6 Where—
a a Registrar General’s licence has been issued under section 7 of the 1970 Act before the relevant date;
b the marriage has not been solemnized before the relevant date; and
c either or both parties to the proposed marriage are under the age of 18 years on the relevant date and will remain under the age of 18 for the entirety of the period of validity of the licence as determined by section 89 of the 1970 Act,
the notices of marriage and the licence are void and no person may solemnize the marriage on the authority of that licence.
7 Where—
a a Registrar General’s licence has been issued under section 7 of the 1970 Act before the relevant date;
b the marriage has not been solemnized before the relevant date; and
c either or both parties to the proposed marriage are under the age of 18 years immediately before the relevant date but both will be aged 18 or over during the period of validity of the licence as determined by section 8 of the 1970 Act,
the notices of marriage and the licence are valid but no person may solemnize the marriage on the authority of that licence until both parties to the proposed marriage have reached the age of 18 years.

Marriage: Consular Marriage

8 Where—
a notice of intended marriage has been given under article 4 of the 2014 Order before the relevant date;
b the relevant part of the United Kingdom for the purposes of the marriage is England and Wales;
c the marriage has not been solemnized before the relevant date; and
d either or both parties to the proposed marriage are under the age of 18 years on the relevant date and will remain under the age of 18 for the entirety of the valid notice period determined by article 7 of the 2014 Order,
the notices of marriage are void and no registration officer may solemnize the marriage.
9 Where—
a notice of intended marriage has been given under article 4 of the 2014 Order before the relevant date;
b the relevant part of the United Kingdom for the purposes of the marriage is England and Wales;
c the marriage has not been solemnized before the relevant date; and
d either or both parties to the proposed marriage are under the age of 18 years immediately before the relevant date but both will be aged 18 or over during the period of validity of the notice determined by article 7 of the 2014 Order,
the notices of marriage are valid but no registration officer may solemnize the marriage until both parties to the proposed marriage have reached the age of 18.

Civil Partnership Schedule: England and Wales

10 Where—
a a civil partnership schedule has been issued under section 1410 of the 2004 Act before the relevant date;
b the proposed civil partners have not registered as civil partners by signing the civil partnership schedule before the relevant date; and
c either or both proposed civil partners are under the age of 18 years on the relevant date and will remain under the age of 18 for the entirety of the applicable period as determined by section 17(4) of the 2004 Act,
the notices of the proposed civil partnership and the civil partnership schedule are void and no civil partnership registrar may officiate at the signing of the civil partnership schedule by them.
11 Where—
a a civil partnership schedule has been issued under section 14 of the 2004 before the relevant date;
b the proposed civil partners have not registered as civil partners by signing the civil partnership schedule before the relevant date; and
c either or both proposed civil partners are under the age of 18 years immediately before the relevant date but both will be aged 18 or over during the applicable period as determined by section 17(4) of the 2004 Act,
the notices of the proposed civil partnership are valid but no civil partnership registrar may officiate at the signing of the civil partnership schedule by them until both proposed civil partners have reached the age of 18 years.

Civil Partnership: Registrar General’s licence

12 Where—
a a Registrar General’s licence has been issued under section 25 of the 2004 Act before the relevant date;
b the proposed civil partners do not register as civil partners by signing the licence before the relevant date; and
c either or both proposed civil partners are under the age of 18 years on the relevant date and will remain under the age of 18 for the entirety of the period during which registration may take place under section 27 of the 2004 Act,
the notice of proposed civil partnership and the licence are void and no civil partnership registrar may officiate at the signing of the licence by them.
13 Where—
a a Registrar General’s licence has been issued under section 25 of 2004 Act before the relevant date;
b the proposed civil partners do not register as civil partners by signing the licence before the relevant date; and
c either or both proposed civil partners are under the age of 18 years immediately before the relevant date but both will be aged 18 or over during the period during which registration may take place under section 27 of the 2004 Act,
the notice of proposed civil partnership and the licence are valid but no civil partnership registrar may officiate at the signing of the licence by them until both proposed civil partners have reached the age of 18 years.

Civil Partnership: Registration Abroad

14 Where—
a two people have given notice to register as civil partners of each other under article 5 of the Registration Abroad Order 2005 before the relevant date;
b the relevant part of the United Kingdom for the civil partnership registration is England and Wales;
c the proposed civil partners have not registered as civil partners by signing the civil partnership document before the relevant date; and
d either or both proposed civil partners are under the age of 18 years on the relevant date and will remain under the age of 18 for the entirety of the valid notice period determined by article 9 of the Registration Abroad Order 2005,
the notices of the proposed civil partnership are void and no registration officer may officiate at the signing of the civil partnership document by them.
15 Where—
a two people have given notice to register as civil partners of each other under article 5 of the Registration Abroad Order 2005 before the relevant date;
b the relevant part of the United Kingdom for the civil partnership registration is England and Wales;
c the proposed civil partners have not registered as civil partners by signing the civil partnership document before the relevant date; and
d either or both proposed civil partners are under the age of 18 years immediately before the relevant date but both will be aged 18 or over during the period of validity of the notice determined by article 9 of the Registration Abroad Order 2005,
the notices of the proposed civil partnership are valid but no registration officer may officiate at the signing of the civil partnership document by them until both proposed civil partners have reached the age of 18 years.

Civil Partnership: Armed Forces

16 Where—
a two people have given notice to register as civil partners of each other under article 6 of the Armed Forces Order 2005 before the relevant date;
b the relevant part of the United Kingdom for the civil partnership registration is England and Wales;
c the proposed civil partners have not registered as civil partners by signing the civil partnership register before the relevant date; and
d either or both proposed civil partners are under the age of 18 years on the relevant date and will remain under the age of 18 for the entirety of the applicable period as determined by article 11(4) of the Armed Forces Order 2005,
the notices of the proposed civil partnership are void and no registering officer may officiate at the signing of the civil partnership register by them.
17 Where—
a two people have given notice to register as civil partners of each other under article 6 of the Armed Forces Order 2005 before the relevant date;
b the relevant part of the United Kingdom for the civil partnership registration is England and Wales;
c the proposed civil partners have not registered as civil partners by signing the civil partnership register before the relevant date; and
d either or both proposed civil partners are under the age of 18 years immediately before the relevant date but both will be aged 18 or over during the applicable period as determined by article 11(4) of the Armed Forces Order 2005,
the notices of the proposed civil partnership are valid but no registering officer may officiate at the signing of the civil partnership register by them until both proposed civil partners have reached the age of 18 years.

Footnotes

  1. 1
    2022 c. 28.
  2. 2
    1949 c. 76.
  3. 3
    1970 c. 34.
  4. 4
    2004 c. 33.
  5. 5
    S.I. 2014/3265; relevant amending instrument is S.I. 2019/1514.
  6. 6
    S.I. 2005/3188, to which there are amendments not relevant to these Regulations.
  7. 7
    S.I. 2005/2761; relevant amending instruments are S.I. 2012/3063 and 2014/1107.
  8. 8
    Section 33(3) was amended by S.I. 2021/411.
  9. 9
    Section 8 was amended by S.I. 2021/411.
  10. 10
    Section 14 was amended by paragraph 26(1) of Part 2 of Schedule 4 to the Immigration Act 2014 (c. 22).