CHAPTER III: Cemeteries and funeral operations

Communities and public establishments for inter-communal cooperation have sole authority to create and manage crematoria and cinerary sites. Crematoria and adjoining cinerary sites may be managed directly or by delegated management. Cinerary sites included within the perimeter of a cemetery or not contiguous to a crematorium must be managed directly. When a cinerary site contiguous to a crematorium is the subject of a public service delegation, the land on which…

Regies, companies or associations managing a crematorium in accordance with article L. 2223-40 are subject to the authorisation provided for in article L. 2223-23. The provisions of articles L. 2223-26 and L. 2223-31 to L. 2223-34 are applicable to them.

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…

At the request of the person entitled to provide for the funeral and when the body of the deceased has been placed, in order to ensure its transport, in a coffin made of a material presenting an obstacle to cremation, an authorisation to transfer the body to a suitable coffin may be issued by the mayor. This authorisation may only be issued with a view to cremation of the body,…

Public or private health establishments that transport a body before committal and transfer a body to a funeral home must hold the authorisation provided for in Article L. 2223-23 on the sole basis of the professional competence of the agents and the compliance of the vehicles with the requirements laid down by the decrees referred to in 2° and 5° of the same article. This authorisation may be withdrawn under…