Paternity test should not be necessary for birth certificate

A new regulation in Zhejiang province listed paternity test results among necessary materials in applying for birth certificates for babies older than one year. That violates the privacy of citizens, says an article on Beijing News.

The article asserts:

"In China, only the person concerned and the judicial departments are eligible to apply for paternity tests. But actually, the latter tends to apply only when extremely necessary, because it concerns privacy.

"Further, while applying for a paternity test, the person does not need to show those conducting the test any identification.

"All these measures are to protect citizens' privacy. Moreover, paternity relation is concerned with ethics, the problem of which cannot be solved by law alone. For example, some parents might have in vitro babies and may not want other people to know the baby was not naturally born.

"That's why the new regulation in Zhejiang province probably needs more consideration. That might save some trouble for the government agencies, but the moral risk is quite high."