WRITTEN QUESTION E-0679/02 by Marialiese Flemming (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Transport of corpses within the EU.
Date: 2002-03-12
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU national, approximation of laws, cross-border transport, death, intra-EU transport

4.7.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 160 E/181

(2002/C 160 E/225)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0679/02

by Marialiese Flemming (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(12 March 2002)

Subject: Transport of corpses within the EU

The transport of those who have died in a country other than their country of origin is regulated by the
Berlin Agreements (1937) and the Strasbourg Convention, drawn up in 1973 by the Council of Europe.
However these regulations are still based on the presumption that border controls are carried out, and do
not take into account the setting-up of the European Economic Area.

A lack of standard formalities and the obligatory use of certain products (inner coffin of zinc) continue to
cause high costs when transporting corpses.

What measures can be taken to ensure that the cross-border transport of corpses is not more difficult than
transport within a Member State?

Joint answer
to Written Questions E-0073/02, E-0087/02,
E-0210/02, E-0344/02, E-0346/02, P-0407/02 and E-0679/02
given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(25 March 2002)

The Commission recognises that the repatriation of mortal remains of a person who has died in another
Member State than his/her own is a sensitive and difficult issue which can cause great suffering for the
family involved.

The Commission is aware of some individual cases, in particular, through the recent written parliamentary
questions, where the repatriation of a deceased person from one Member State to another has raised
difficulties. However, the Commission does not have any information or statistics which would provide an
overview of a possible problem and its scope.

These issues potentially raise a number of questions, some of them in relation to different Community
policies, for instance, transport, health, free movement, etc. However, it does not appear that there would
be a clear Community competence to cover all these various aspects. Moreover, the regulations governing
the transfer of remains of dead persons are laid down in the International Agreement of Berlin (1937,
No 4391 League of Nations Treaty Series) and by the Agreement on the transfer of corpses of the Council
of Europe concluded in September 1973. In any event it should be recalled that Member States which
regulate the transport of deceased persons, must, in conformity with the case law of the Court of Justice,
apply any requirements on a non-discriminatory basis. Any derogation based on public health grounds
must also be in conformity with the case-law of the Court.

In the light of the above, the Commission will continue to follow these issues closely, but does not
envisage any specific initiative for the moment.

(2002/C 160 E/226)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0098/02

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(29 January 2002)

Subject: Regional GDP growth

Will the Commission provide the growth rate of nominal GDP (GDP at current basic prices or nearest
equivalent) for each region of each Member State in the EU over the ten years until 1999?

Will it add more recent such figures if available?