WRITTEN QUESTION E-0346/02 by Marjo Matikainen-Kallström (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Repatriation of deceased persons within the EU.
Date: 2002-02-12
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU national, approximation of laws, death, free movement of persons, intra-EU transport, return migration

C 160 E/180

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

4.7.2002

Is the updating of the relevant provisions pending in the EU or internationally?

Would it be possible to secure the adoption of rules on the repatriation of deceased persons within the EU
that would make repatriation from one Member State to another as simple as transporting a deceased
person within a Member State?

What timetable could be envisaged for taking this matter forward?

(2002/C 160 E/223)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0346/02

by Marjo Matikainen-Kallström (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Repatriation of deceased persons within the EU

(12 February 2002)

A growing number of EU citizens live in a different EU country from their home country. It follows
inevitably from the free movement of people that, increasingly, EU citizens are dying in a different EU
country from their home country. This results in needless cost and distressing delays for the relatives of the
deceased.

A zinc coffin is not needed when transporting a deceased person (by road) from Ivalo to Helsinki
(1 120 km) or from Strasbourg to Lyon (460 km). However, an expensive zinc coffin is essential when
transporting the deceased from Strasbourg to Baden-Baden (50 km).

At present, the repatriation of deceased persons from one state to another is governed by the Berlin
Convention (1937) and the Council of Europe Convention on the carriage of deceased persons (Strasbourg
1973; applicable in Finland since 1989). These Conventions are no longer up-to-date since they are based
on the kind of border checks that no longer exist. It is no longer possible to identify rational hygienic or
safety grounds that would justify the abovementioned use of zinc coffins when transporting deceased
persons between two EU countries.

What action does the Commission intend to take to ensure the adoption of rules on the repatriation of
deceased persons within the EU that would make repatriation from one Member State to another as simple
as transporting a deceased person within a Member State?

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?

(2002/C 160 E/224)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0407/02

by Nicole Thomas-Mauro (NI) to the Commission

(11 February 2002)

Subject: Intra-Community repatriation of corpses

Cross-border transport of corpses is currently based on the 1937 Berlin Agreements and the 1973
Strasbourg Agreement. However, these agreements are no longer applicable, since they were based on the
presumption of border controls which no longer exist.

Could the Commission say:

= to what extent the Treaties require EU Member States to allow free intra-Community transfer of

human remains between their territories?

= whether it plans to look into ways of simplifying intra-Community transfer of deceased persons?