WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1033/98 by Caroline JACKSON to the Commission. Recording the cause of death: EU practice
Date: 1998-04-06
Institutions: European Parliament, JACKSON CAROLINE
Subjects: EU national, Netherlands, administrative formalities, civil status, competence of the Member States, exchange of information, forensic medicine, mortality, protection of privacy

C 323/108

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

21. 10. 98

(98/C 323/162)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1033/98

by Caroline Jackson (PPE) to the Commission

(6 April 1998)

Subject: Recording the cause of death: EU practice

The daughter of a constituent of mine recently died in Rotterdam from leukaemia. The Dutch authorities, when
issuing the death certificate, did not state the exact cause of death, apparently because of the privacy laws in
Holland. The death certificate therefore simply stated (cid:145)no contagious disease(cid:146). When her body was brought back
to the United Kingdom for burial, however, the British coroner had to rule on the cause of death. The Dutch
statement was found to be so vague as to be unacceptable, and a post mortem was ordered. This added to the
distress  of  the  family.  Can  the  Commission  state  whether  there  is  in  place,  or  under  discussion,  any  system
whereby the certification of death and cause of death in one Member State can be accepted in another Member
State without further inquiry of the kind in Britain where a coroner has to open an inquiry and may order a post
mortem?

Answer given by Mr Santer on behalf of the Commission

(30 April 1998)

The civil status of people has been expressly excluded from the scope of the Brussels convention of 1968 on
recognition and enforcement of decisions in civil and commercial matters. This question is therefore a matter of
national law of Member States. The Commission is not aware of any instrument whereby the certification of
death and cause of death by a contracting state would be automatically recognised in another contracting state.

Under the aegis of the International commission on civil status (ICCS), a convention has been signed in Istanbul,
in  1958,  dealing  with  international  exchange  of  information  between  officials  in  charge  of  civil  status  in
contracting states. However, this convention does not provide any rule on legal effects in a contracting state.
These legal effects are ruled by national laws.

In  addition,  the  United  Kingdom,  although  it  has  become  a  member  of  the  ICCS  in  1996,  did  not  ratify  this
convention so far.

(98/C 323/163)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1036/98

by Fernando Ferna·ndez Mart(cid:14)·n (PPE) to the Commission

(6 April 1998)

Subject: Human rights and democracy

Budget  heading  B7-7020  allocates  ECU  19  million  to  strengthening  human  rights  and  democracy  in  the
developing countries. It covers measures relating to the exercise of public authority (support for recently elected
national parliaments, increasing the independence of the judiciary, transparency in the administering of public
funding, etc.) and the development of civil society (awareness-raising and education in the field of human rights,
support for independent media, etc).

What measures have been financed in this way? Does the Commission(cid:146)s monitoring of these measures enable it
to provide any information about their long-term impact?

Answer given by Mr Pinheiro on behalf of the Commission

(29 April 1998)

For  1997  budget  heading  B7-7020,  human  rights  and  democracy  in  the  developing  countries,  was  allotted
ECU 17 million. In that year it was used to finance 56 projects in ACP countries and Asia. Of those, 22 were for
strengthening the exercise of public authority, accounting for 51% of the total amount. The rest was spent on
strengthening civil society.