Revista

RNPN supporting compatriots
19
Iris Gálvez
Federico Guerrero President of the National Registry of Natural Persons attended the conference in which
he affi rmed that every Salvadoran has the support of the institution when managing identification documents,
in Los Angeles they also have their own office, right there inside the Salvadoran corridor.
The offi cial said that he would be present during the Festival of Hispanity, in addition he encouraged all
Salvadorans abroad to take out their DUI since it is the official identification and is the one required for any legal
procedure.
RNPN
On July 2, 1940, Legislative Decree No. 18 gave life to the Neighborhood Identification Law, whereby all Salvadorans
over 18 years of age, resident in the Republic of El Salvador had to obtain an identification document
called Cédula de Neighborhood. This law was in force until September 10, 1959.
On December 8, 1959, the Personal Identity Card Law entered into force. This began to be issued on the 1st. July
1960. This law decreed that all Salvadorans over 18 years of age should be provided with a Personal Identity Card
(CIP), this being the necessary and sufficient document to establish the identity of the person, in all public and private
events in which it was presented .
The Personal Identity Card was obtained at the City Hall of the citizen’s address. Its form was a small notebook
that contained data related to the person.
This Identity document lacked verification and data control mechanisms provided by the
person requesting it. It also lacked physical security in the document, which resulted
in the existence of an unreliable and unsecured document for the identity of
citizens.
From the 1992 Peace Agreements in El Salvador, a new form of peaceful and
social coexistence is generated based on the validity of the democratic system
and respect for the rule of law.
For this reason, the Salvadoran State had the obligation to make natural
persons identified and registered reliably. Therefore, it was necessary to
create an institution of high social impact that through the provision of its
services strengthen electoral processes and also guarantee legal certainty.
Therefore, the Salvadoran State agreed through Legislative Decree No. 488
of October 27, 1995, published in the Official Gazette No. 227, volume 329
dated December 7, 1995, the creation of the National Registry of Natural
Persons and the creation of the new Unique Identity Document (DUI), which
fully replaced the Personal Identity Card. In addition, by legal provision, it
replaced the electoral card, issued by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal for the
exercise of suffrage. One of the objectives that this reform intended was the
replacement of the Identity Card, with the Unique Identity Document, allowing
the construction of more reliable electoral rolls.
Likewise, the creation of the RNPN sought to modernize the registration of
the facts and legal acts of natural persons, using information technologies
and facilitating the preservation and issuance of documentation carried in
their Systems.
The National Registry of Natural Persons is a public law entity, with autonomy
in technical and administrative matters; For budgetary purposes it
is attached to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal. Its competence covers the
entire national territory in matters of Family Status Registration and Citizen
Identification.