WRITTEN QUESTION E-0210/02 by Piia-Noora Kauppi (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Return home of corpses within the EU.
Date: 2002-02-06
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU national, approximation of laws, death, intra-EU transport, return migration

4.7.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 160 E/179

(2002/C 160 E/221)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0210/02

by Piia-Noora Kauppi (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(6 February 2002)

Subject: Return home of corpses within the EU

A growing number of Union citizens live in Member States other than their countries of origin. There are
numerous reasons for this: many EU citizens, for example, work in another Member State, tourism is
continuing to expand, and, in addition, more and more pensioners from northern Europe are settling
permanently in the South. An inevitable consequence of greater migration and the rise of travel is that EU
citizens are, to an ever-increasing extent, dying in parts of the EU outside their countries of origin.

However, at a time when the EU’s single market area is operating more and more efficiently, absurd
difficulties arise when a corpse is sent home from one Member State to another, resulting in needless costs
and distressing delays for the relatives of the deceased person.

For example, a zinc coffin is not required when transporting a corpse (by road) from Strasbourg to Lyons
(460 km) or from Ivalo to Helsinki (1 120 km), but has to be used when a corpse is transported from
Strasbourg to Baden Baden (50 km). There are no logical hygiene or safety reasons for these differences.

At present, the return home of corpses from one country to another is regulated by the 1937 Berlin
agreement and the Council of Europe Agreement on the Transfer of Corpses (concluded in Strasbourg in
1973). These agreements are now out of date because they are based on border policing of a kind no
longer carried out, least of all in the Schengen countries.

Is the Commission aware of this unfortunate but unavoidable situation, which is occurring as the EU’s
internal market area is expanding and borders are opening up?

Would it be possible to lay down rules to govern the return home of corpses in the EU whereby a journey
from one Member State to another would be as simple as a journey within the same Member State?

(2002/C 160 E/222)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0344/02

by Eija-Riitta Korhola (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(12 February 2002)

Subject: Carriage of deceased persons within the EU

A growing number of EU citizens are living in another EU country than their own: many EU citizens work
in another country, tourism continues to increase and ever more retired people from northern Europe are
moving permanently to southern Europe. An inevitable consequence of increased migration and travel is
that, increasingly, EU citizens are dying elsewhere in the EU than in their home country.

At the same time as the EU’s internal market is functioning ever more smoothly, absurd difficulties arise
with the repatriation of a deceased person from one EU Member State to another. This results in needless
cost and distressing delays for the relations of the deceased.

The repatriation of deceased persons from one country to another is governed by the Berlin Convention
(1937) and the Council of Europe Convention on the carriage of deceased persons (Strasbourg 1973).
These Conventions are no longer in keeping with the times since they are based on the kind of border
checks which no longer exist. For example, a zinc coffin is not necessary when transporting a deceased
person (by road) from Strasbourg to Lyon (460 km) but is essential when transporting the deceased person
from Strasbourg to Baden-Baden (50 km). There are no rational hygienic or safety grounds that would
justify this practice.

Does the EU Treaty require the European Union to guarantee the free repatriation of deceased persons
within the EU where the person in question is an EU citizen?