South Carolina § 44-63-161 - Unlawful acts; penalties.

§ 44-63-161. Unlawful acts; penalties.

(A) It is unlawful for a person:

(1) other than the Department of Health and Environmental Control and county health departments to issue copies or certified copies of birth and death certificates or a document purporting to be a birth or death certificate;

(2) to wilfully make a false statement in a certificate, record, or report required to be filed by this chapter or a regulation, or in an application for an amendment to or for a certified copy of the certificate, record, or report, or to wilfully supply false information intending that the information be used in the preparation or amendment of the certificate, record, or report;

(3) without lawful authority to wilfully make, sell, counterfeit, alter, amend, or mutilate a certificate, record, or report required to be filed by this chapter or a regulation or a certified copy of the certificate, record, or report;

(4) to wilfully obtain, possess, use, sell, furnish to another, or attempt to obtain, possess, use, sell, or furnish to another, for the purpose of deception, a certificate, record, report required to be filed by this chapter or a regulation, or a certified copy of these, including a certificate, record, or report or certified copy that has been counterfeited, altered, amended, or mutilated or a document purporting to be the certificate, record, or report;

(5) to wilfully violate a regulation or an order of the department relative to recording, reporting, or filing information for the Bureau of Vital Records.

(B) A person who violates a provision of item (1), (2), (3), or (4) of subsection (A) is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than ten thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

(C) A person who violates a provision of item (5) of subsection (A) is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than one thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

HISTORY: 1978 Act No. 587 SECTION 5; 1988 Act No. 341, SECTION 1; 2003 Act No. 64, SECTION 1, eff June 25, 2003.