As stated in the first paragraph of article L. 2223-39 of the French General Local Authorities Code, reproduced below:
“Public or private health establishments that meet the conditions laid down by decree in the Conseil d’Etat must have a mortuary in which the bodies of persons who have died there must be deposited. However, the mortuary may also receive, for a fee, the bodies of people who have died outside these establishments if there is no funeral home nearby. “