• Area of Law： Marriage,Family Support,Adoption,and Inheritance
• Level of Authority： Departmental Regulatory Documents
• Issuing Authority： Ministry of Civil Affairs
• Status： Effective

Provisional Measures for the Administration of Adoption Registration Archives
(No.181 [2003] of the Ministry of Civil Affairs)
Article 1 The present Measures are hereby formulated in accordance with the Archive Law of the People's Republic of China, Adoption Law of the People's Republic of China, Registration Measures for the Adoption of Children by Chinese Citizens, Registration Measures for the Adoption of Children by Foreigners within the People's Republic of China, Provisions on the Jurisdiction of Adoption Registration Handled by Overseas Chinese and the Chinese Citizens Living in Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan Regions and the Required Certificates and Certificate Documents, and other laws and regulations, for the purpose of strengthening standardization administration on the adoption registration archives, and serving the adoption work better.
Article 2 The "adoption registration archives" refer to the history records formed by the adoption registration organs in the forms of various letters, illustrations, sounds and pictures during the course of handling adoption registration, which specify the adoption information of the adoptive parties and have the value for keeping.
Adoption registration archives are an important part of all the archives of the departments of civil affairs at all levels.
Article 3 The adoption registration archives shall be administered uniformly in a centralized way by the departments of civil affairs at all levels, no one may appropriate them.
Article 4 The work of adoption registration archives shall be carried out under the guidance, supervision and inspection of the departments of civil affairs at the upper level and the administrative departments of archives at the corresponding level.
Article 5 The scope of filing of the adoption registration documents and materials shall be:
1.Registration documents for the establishment of an adoptive relationship:
(1) Application letter for adoption registration;
(2) Inquiry notes;
(3) Form of examination and approval for adoption registration;
(4) The various certificate documents as prescribed in Articles 5 and 6 of the Registration Measures for the Adoption of Children by Chinese Citizens, Articles 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 of the Provisions on the Jurisdiction of Adoption Registration Handled by Overseas Chinese and the Chinese Citizens Living in Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan Regions and the Required Certificates and Certificate Documents, and Article 10 of the Registration Measures for the Adoption of Children by Foreigners within the People's Republic of China;
(5) Photocopy of the adoption registration certificate;
(6) Adoption agreement; and
(7) Other relevant documents.
2. Registration materials for termination of an adoptive relationship:
(1) The various certificate documents as prescribed in Article 9 of the Registration Measures for the Adoption of Children by Chinese Citizens;
(2) Photocopy of certificate for termination of an adoptive relationship; and
(3) Other relevant documents.
3. Registration materials for revocation of an adoption:
(1) Adoption registration certificate taken back or the relevant certificate documents issued due to failure to take back adoption registration certificate; and
(2) Other relevant documents.
Article 6 The filing of the adoption registration documents shall meet the following requirements:
1. All the documents to be filed shall be complete and integrate.
2. Where there are pictures or photocopies in the documents and materials to be filed, the pictures shall be clear.
3. The electronic documents formed in the adoption registration work shall be cleaned up and filed in accordance with the Standards for Filing and Administration of the Electronic Documents (G8／T18894—2002), and meanwhile, a copy of paper documents shall be printed and filed together with the electronic documents.
4. The adoption registration documents and materials shall be filed within 60 days after the registration formalities have been completed. And
5. All the documents and materials to be filed shall be the originals except the identity card of residents, domicile certificate, certificate for returning to one's native place, travel certificate, passport, and other identity certificates and adoption registration certificate which shall be the photocopies of the originals.
Article 7 The following rules shall be followed for the clean-up of the adoption registration documents and materials:
1. The registration documents and materials for the establishment of an adoptive relationship, for termination of an adoptive relationship, and for revocation of an adoption shall be numbered by volume as a unit, with one volume for one case.
2. Each volume of adoption registration documents and materials shall be ranked according to the following order:
(1) Contents of the documents;
(2) Application letter for adoption registration;
(3) Inquiry notes;
(4) Form of examination and approval for adoption registration;
(5) Revocation of adoption registration materials;
(6) Certificate documents of the adopter;
(7) Certificate documents of the adoptee;
(8) Certificate documents of the person or institution placing out a child for adoption;
(9) Other relevant documents; and
(10) Reference table.
Article 8 The classification of the adoption registration archives and establishment of the contents of each class shall be:
The adoption registration archives shall be classified according to the Year---Nationality (Residence)---Nature of the Adoption Registration. Among them, the Nationality (Residence) shall include such classes as the China mainland citizens, overseas Chinese, Chinese citizens living in Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan regions, etc.; the Nature of Adoption Registration shall include: registration on the establishment of an adoptive relationship, registration on termination of an adoptive relationship, and registration on the revocation of an adoption.
Article 9 The adoption registration archives shall be kept permanently.
Article 10 The adoption registration archives shall be mainly used by the administrative organs of adoption registration. Where other entities, organizations or individuals need to consult or borrow the archives due to special reasons, they shall be approved by the leader in charge, and go through formalities for consulting and borrowing.
Article 11 No one may destroy, alter, substitute, mark with a circle, annotate and comment on or pollute the archives he/she consults or borrows. In case of the occurrence of the above-mentioned conditions, punishments shall be imposed on the relevant person according to laws and regulations.
Article 12 The management personnel of the archives shall strictly abide by the relevant provisions of the Archive Law of the People's Republic of China and the Law of the People's Republic of China on Keeping State Secrets, keep the archives strictly, and maintain the privacy right of the parties, and shall not disclose the contents of the archives, or enlarge the scope of consulting and borrowing without approval.
Article 13 Before handling the registration formalities for adoption of children by foreigners, the Ministry of Civil Affairs shall make additional provisions on the administration of the archives of the foreign adopters formed, and the archives of the domestic person or institution placing out a child for adoption and those of the adoptee.
Article 14 The departments of civil affairs of all provinces (autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government) may formulate the detailed implementation rules of the present Measures according to the local realities.
Article 15 The present Measures shall come into force as of the date of promulgation.