Hi Whether a certificate from the GRO is Certified or not does not make a great difference to the cost, a certificate is created by printing a scan of the register held by the GRO onto a pre-printed blank certificate so the only difference is the price of the paper. The GRO does not have the original registers, only copies that were forwarded each quarter by the Local Register office. The way the Local Office handles copy certificate requests varies from office to office. Some offices will scan the original register and print it on to a pre printed blank certificate. In this case you get the original signatures, other offices copy the register entry by hand. Often this is because the Registers are fragile. Andy >-----Original Message----- >From: Lyn >Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 4:10 PM >To: [email protected] >Subject: Re: [ENG-LIV] Petition re cost of BMD certificates (England & >Wales) >Edwina >"uncertified certificates" when they are available, are very commonly >issued >from Registry Offices - most will send you a photocopy of the actual >register page instead, which has to be actually more accurate than a >"certified copy" which is really just a transcription typed up on a piece >of paper and errors are made. The advantage of the photocopy is that it is >open for you to interpret. In one of our States we have transcription >agents >who go in and transcribe the entry from the register for a cheaper price >than a Certified certificate. They are virtually the same thing but do not >have the official seal on them, plus the transcribers have a matching >service so if anyone else asks for the same certificate they put you in >touch and they will make comments where they see something that might be >useful to know that you wouldn't get on a "Certified Copy". >IMHO Certified Copies are certainly not the be all and end all. >Regards >Lyn >In Oz.