Section 3: Funeral operations

Apart from the situations provided for in III and IV of article R. 1261-18, the medical teaching and research activities organised within the body reception structure of the establishment authorised in accordance with the second paragraph of article L. 1261-1 must be carried out within a maximum period of two years following the reception of the body in the establishment.

Apart from the situations provided for in IV of article R. 1261-18, the staff of the body reception facility ensure the best possible restoration of the body before the establishment carries out funeral operations or returns the body or ashes.

At the end of the medical teaching and research activities, the establishment determines the most appropriate type of funeral operation according to the nature of the activity performed on the body. It shall take into account the preference expressed by the donor when consenting to the donation and, where applicable, the request expressed by the referent person designated by the donor, or by the donor’s family or close relations under…

I.-In the absence of express opposition from the donor, the establishment shall inform, where it has their contact details, the contact person designated by the donor, or failing this, the donor’s family or close friends, of the date on which it intends to carry out the type of funeral operation it has chosen. He shall inform them, depending on the nature of the activity performed on the body, of the…

Each year, the establishment organises a ceremony of remembrance in honour of the donors, which may be attended by the referees designated by the donors, their families or close friends, provided that the donors have not objected by consenting to the donation. The donors are then informed within a reasonable time of the date and place of the ceremony.

I.-When the body is returned to the contact person designated by the donor, to a family member or to a close relative, this person is designated as the person entitled to provide for the funeral. The body is returned by the designated funeral operator at the expense of this person. An order by the Minister for Higher Education sets the conditions for the financial responsibility for the transfer of the…