Subsection 4: Funeral equipment

Authorisation to close the coffin may only be issued on the basis of a certificate attesting to the death, drawn up by a doctor, whether practising or retired, by a student in the third cycle of medical studies in France or a practitioner with a foreign qualification from outside the European Union authorised to pursue a course of consolidation of skills in medicine, under conditions laid down by decree issued after consultation with the Conseil national de l'ordre des médecins.

This certificate, drawn up according to a model established by the Ministry of Health, specifies the cause(s) of death, for transmission to the National Institute of Health and Medical Research and to the bodies whose list is established by decree in the Council of State issued after consultation with the National Commission for Information Technology and Civil Liberties and which have access to data relating to the medical causes of death in order to fulfil their missions. This same decree sets the scope of access as well as the procedures for this transmission, in particular the conditions for guaranteeing confidentiality. This decree also determines the procedures for drawing up this certificate when it is drawn up by retired doctors.

This information may only be used for public health reasons:

1° For monitoring and alert purposes, by the State, regional health agencies and the National Public Health Agency;

2° For the establishment of national statistics on causes of death and for public health research by the National Institute of Health and Medical Research;

3° For the processing of data concerning health, under the conditions set out in Article L. 1461-3 du code de la santé publique;

4° Pour alimenter le système national des données de santé défini à l'article L. 1461-1 du même code;

5° Pour l'établissement de statistiques dans le cadre de l'article 7 bis of law no. 51-711 of 7 June 1951 on the obligation, coordination and secrecy of statistics, by the Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques or by the statistical services of the minister responsible for health. This data must be kept separately from the data in the national register for the identification of natural persons held by the Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques.

In addition, if when drawing up the death certificate referred to in Article 87 of the Civil Code the identity of the deceased has not been established, authorisation to close the coffin may only be issued after execution, within a timeframe compatible with the timeframes governing burial and cremation, any requisitions issued by the Public Prosecutor for the purpose of carrying out the observations and operations necessary to establish the identity of the deceased.