In October 1996 the "Presidential Agreement" (Acuerdo Presidential) authorized all federal public administration institutions to use the "Unique Code of Population Registry" (Clave Unica de Registro de Poblacion, CURP); from that date forward, every public institution registering people was required to use the CURP (Mexico n.d.). Every person living on Mexican territory and all Mexican nationals, including those living overseas, are assigned an alphanumeric CURP code by the "National Population Registry" (Registro Nacional de Poblacion) (ibid.). One of the objectives of the CURP is to facilitate the administration of public documents (ibid.). The CURP will therefore be gradually incorporated into all official documents such as "civil registry" (registro civil) records (birth certificates, marriage certificates, etc.), health documents (vaccination cards, medical records, etc.), education documents (school registration, identification cards, certificates, etc.), work documents (work application, pay stub, identification, etc.), social security documents (individual savings accounts for pension, identification, etc.) and "development" (desarollo) documents (passport, military service card, driver's licence, individual registry, etc.) (ibid.).

To obtain a CURP code one must apply directly to the National Population Registry, or apply at the appropriate administrative office when he or she is dealing with official documentation for the first time (Mexico 18 June 2003a). When applying directly to the National Population Registry, people living in the Federal District must go to specially designated offices called "modulos," while anyone living in the rest of Mexico must apply at a "municipal civil registry" office (Registro Civil Municipal) (ibid.). To consult one's CURP code, an individual, or a company inquiring about an individual's code, can search the CURP database on the government Website "Tramitanet" by using a person's full name, birth date, sex and place of birth after first registering with the Website (Mexico n.d.).

The CURP is an 18 element alphanumeric code organized as follows:

- Four letters from the person's name: the first two letters are the first letter and first internal vowel of the person's first last name, the third letter is the initial of the person's second last name and the last letter is the initial of the person's first name

- Six numbers reflecting the date of birth: the last two numbers of the year, the month and the day

- A letter describing the person's sex: an "H" for male and "M" for female

- Two letters describing the place of birth: e.g., D.F. for the "Federal District" (Distrito Federal)

- Three letters from the person's name: the first internal consonant of the first last name, the second last name and the first name

- A number to avoid having duplicate CURP

- A "verifying number" (digito verificador) (ibid.)

The information contained in the main CURP database includes the information needed to assign the CURP code (name, birth date, birth place and sex) as well as the registry office and the registry book where the person registered his or her CURP code (Mexico 12 June 2003). The address of the person and any other information is not contained in the CURP database (ibid. 18 June 2003a). The National Population Registry, which is part of the Ministry of Interior (Secretaria de Gobernacion), is the main department that has access to the CURP database, although any authority using the CURP code to register a person has access to the information contained in the database (Mexico 12 June 2003; ibid. 18 June 2003a). A person does not need to provide local authorities with the CURP code when he or she moves: the only time the authorities require seeing the CURP code is when a person is registering official documents (ibid.). There is no obligation to provide the employer with the CURP code, but the employer does need the code to register the employee in the Social Security system and for most other official documentation (ibid.).

It is anticipated that when all Mexicans are registered with a CURP code a picture identity card will be included with it (Mexico 12 June 2003). The officials at the information centre for the CURP and an official at the Mexican embassy in Ottawa could not provide detailed information on how and when this second phase of the CURP will be implemented (ibid.; ibid. 18 June 2003a; ibid. 18 June 2003b).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Mexico. n.d. "Consulta de la CURP." http://www.gob.mx/wb2/egobierno/egob_Cunsulta_tu_CURP [Accessed 11 June 2003]

_____. 18 June 2003a. Registro Nacional de Poblacion. Telephone interview with an official from the information center.

_____. 18 June 2003b. Embassy of Mexico, Ottawa. Telephone interview with an official from the consular section.

_____. 12 June 2003. Registro Nacional de Poblacion. Telephone interview with an official from the information center.