(1) "Department" means the department of health.

(2) "Human research review board" is a standing institutional review board operating under state law, chapter 42.48 RCW.

(3) "Confidential portion of the birth and fetal death certificates" means pertinent information relative to the birth and manner of delivery as specified in WAC 246-491-029.

(4) "Local registrar and their deputies" are those local officials operating under the direction and control of the state registrar. The health officer within each local health jurisdiction is the local registrar in and for the primary registration district under his or her supervision. His or her designees are deputy registrars.

(5) "Personal identifiers" are names, addresses, Social Security numbers and any other information that reveals or can likely be associated with the identity of the person or persons to whom the record pertains.

(6) "Research" means a planned and systematic sociological, psychological, epidemiological, biomedical, or other scientific investigation with an objective to contribute to scientific knowledge, the solution of social and health problems, or the evaluation of public benefit, health care delivery or medical or social service programs.

(7) "Scientific merit" describes a research project or statistical study that is based on methods of data collection or analysis that are objective, can be replicated, and are designed to yield reliable and valid results.

(8) "State registrar" is the department of health official charged with the execution of the provisions of chapter 70.58 RCW.

(9) "Statistical study" means any project consisting of or based on assembling, classifying, and/or tabulating numerical data to present significant information about a given subject.

(10) "Vital records" means records of birth, death, fetal death, marriage, dissolution, annulment, and legal separation, maintained under the supervision of the state registrar of vital statistics.