Sec. 1. 18-A MRSA §9-310, first ¶, as enacted by PL 1995, c. 694, Pt. C, §7 and affected by Pt. E, §2, is amended to read:

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, and except as provided in Title 22, section 2768, all Probate Court records relating to any adoption decreed on or after August 8, 1953 are confidential. The Probate Court shall keep records of those adoptions segregated from all other court records. If a judge of probate court determines that examination of records pertaining to a particular adoption is proper, the judge may authorize that examination by specified persons, authorize the register of probate to disclose to specified persons any information contained in the records by letter, certificate or copy of the record or authorize a combination of both examination and disclosure.

Sec. 2. 22 MRSA §2765, sub-§2-A, ¶C, as amended by PL 2001, c. 574, §24, is further amended to read:

C. When a new certificate of birth is established following adoption or legitimation, it must be substituted for the original certificate of birth. After that substitution, the original certificate of birth and the evidence of adoption are not subject to inspection except upon order of the Probate Court or the Superior Court or pursuant to section 2768. The application for legitimation may be released to persons listed on the original birth certificate upon completion of written application to the State Registrar of Vital Statistics or the registrar's designee.

Sec. 3. 22 MRSA §2765, sub-§5, as amended by PL 1979, c. 168, §2, is further amended to read:

5. Copies of original certificate. When the new certificate of birth is established, the state registrar shall provide each municipal clerk who is required by law to have a copy of the certificate of birth on file with a copy of the new certificate of birth. In the case of a Maine certificate of birth established for a person born in a foreign country, a copy of the certificate shall must be provided to and shall must be maintained on file by the clerk of the municipality where the adoptive parents resided on the date of the adoption. All copies of the original certificate in the custody of any municipal clerk shall must be sealed from inspection, except as provided in section 2768, or surrendered to the state registrar as he shall direct the state registrar directs.

Sec. 4. 22 MRSA §2768 is enacted to read: