Section 31-10-31. Penalties

   (a) A fine of not more than $10,000.00 or imprisonment of not more than five years, or both, shall be imposed on:

   (1) Any person who willfully and knowingly makes any false statement in a certificate, record, or report required by this chapter, or in an application for an amendment thereof, or in an application for a certified copy of a vital record or who willfully and knowingly supplies false information intending that such information be used in the preparation of any such report, record, or certificate, or amendment thereof;

   (2) Any person who without lawful authority and with the intent to deceive makes, counterfeits, alters, amends, or mutilates any certificate, record, or report required by this chapter or a certified copy of such certificate, record, or report;

   (3) Any person who willfully and knowingly obtains, possesses, uses, sells, furnishes, or attempts to obtain, possess, use, sell, or furnish to another, for any purpose of deception, any certificate, record, or report required by this chapter or certified copy thereof so made, counterfeited, altered, amended, or mutilated or which is false in whole or in part or which relates to the birth of another person, whether living or deceased;

   (4) Any employee of the State Office of Vital Records, or appointed local registrar or local custodian or special abstracting agent who willfully and knowingly furnishes or processes a certificate of birth, or certified copy of a certificate of birth, with the knowledge or intention that it be used for the purposes of deception; or

   (5) Any person who without lawful authority possesses any certificate, record, or report required by this chapter or a copy or certified copy of such certificate, record, or report knowing same to have been stolen or otherwise unlawfully obtained.

(b) A fine not more than $1,000.00 or imprisonment of not more than one year, or both, shall be imposed on:

   (1) Any person who willfully and knowingly refuses to provide information required by this chapter or regulations adopted hereunder;

   (2) Any person who willfully and knowingly transports or accepts for transportation, interment, or other disposition a dead body without an accompanying permit as provided in this chapter;

   (3) Any person who willfully and knowingly neglects or violates any of the provisions of this chapter or refuses to perform any of the duties imposed upon such person by this chapter.

Ga. L. 1927, p. 353, § 21; Code 1933, § 88-9929; Ga. L. 1945, p. 236, § 38; Code 1933, § 88-1727, enacted by Ga. L. 1964, p. 499, § 1; Code 1933, § 88-1731, enacted by Ga. L. 1982, p. 723, § 1; Code 1981, § 31-10-16; Code 1981, § 31-10-31, enacted by Ga. L. 1982, p. 723, § 2; Ga. L. 1992, p. 6, § 31; Ga. L. 2004, p. 477, § 11.