§338-18 Disclosure of records. (a) To protect the integrity of vital statistics records, to ensure their proper use, and to ensure the efficient and proper administration of the vital statistics system, it shall be unlawful for any person to permit inspection of, or to disclose information contained in vital statistics records, or to copy or issue a copy of all or part of any record, except as authorized by this part or in a manner consistent with rules adopted by the department of health.
(b) The department of health shall not permit inspection of public health statistics records, or issue a certified copy of any record or part thereof, unless it is satisfied that the applicant has a direct and tangible interest in the record. The following persons or agencies shall be considered to have a direct and tangible interest in a public health statistics record:
(c) The department of health may permit the use of the data contained in public health statistics records for research purposes only, but no identifying use thereof shall be made.
(d) Index data consisting of name and sex of the registrant, type of vital event, and such other data as the director may authorize shall be made available to the public.
(e) The department of health may permit persons working on genealogy projects access to microfilm or other copies of vital records of events that occurred more than one hundred fifteen years before the current year.
(f) The department of health shall not issue a verification in lieu of a certified copy of any record, or any part thereof, unless it is satisfied that the applicant requesting a verification is:
(g) For the purposes of this section, "research purposes" shall be limited to those purposes that have been reviewed by the department of health's institutional review committee and approved by the department of health's institutional review committee and the director of health. [L 1949, c 327, §22; RL 1955, §57-21; am L Sp 1959 2d, c 1, §19; am L 1967, c 30, §2; HRS §338-18; am L 1977, c 118, §1; am L 1991, c 190, §1; am L 1997, c 305, §5; am L 2001, c 246, §2; am L 2012, c 86, §2; am L 2021, c 199, §2; am L 2024, c 122, §1]