The Act
The Act established the Gender Recognition Panel, who have the authority to issue a Gender Recognition Certificate.
Issue of a full certificate provides legal recognition of the transsexual person’s acquired gender.
Under the Act, information relating to an application for a Gender Recognition Certificate is ‘protected information’ if it is acquired in a professional capacity.
It is an offence to disclose protected information to any other person unless an exemption applies.
Some of the exemptions are:
- the person has consented
- the person cannot be identified from the information
- information is needed for prevention and investigation of crime
- information is needed to comply with a court order
The Gender Recognition Act 2004
Records management considerations
Applicants to the Gender Recognition Panel are required to supply evidence from a medical practitioner in support of their application.
As ‘protected information’ covers all information that would identify a person as being a transsexual, if successful in their application a new health record must be created so that protected information is not disclosed.