Great Britain

Professional association:

National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD)
618 Warwick Road
Solihull
GB-West Midlands
B 91 1 AA
Phone: + 44 121 711 13 43
Fax: + 44 121 711 13 51
E-mail: info@nafd.org.uk
Web site: www.nafd.org.uk

Transport Agreement:
The Great Britain have neither acceded the Berlin Agreement nor the Strasbourg Agreement

General information:
60,94 million inhabitants (July 2008 est.)
††††  612,500 per year (July 2008 est.)

National language:
English

First obligatory foreign language in public education:

Religions:
Christian (Anglican, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist) 71.6%, Muslim 2.7%, Hindu 1%, other 1.6%, unspecified or none 23.1% (2001 census)

National holidays:
1 January, 9 January, 12 April, 3 May, 31 May, 30 August, 25-28 December

Special regulations/legislation concerning repatriation of deceased persons or human ashes:
1. To bring a deceased into the country
Following documents are required for the transportation of corpses to Great Britain: A death certificate indicating the cause of the death, a doctor’s certificate on the cause of the death if this is not mentioned in the death certificate, a doctor’s certificate indicating whether the deceased person had a contagious disease at the moment of his/her death, a statement by the funeral director on the contents of the coffin, as well as the laisser-passer, issued by the competent authority at the point of departure. There is no legal requirement to have a corpse preserved that is to be transported to the Great Britain for burial. The diplomatic mission or consular office of the Great Britain at the point of departure must be informed of the planned transportation of a corpse. This helps to clarify whether it wants any requirements to be met before a transportation permit is issued. Since regional variations apply to the administrative steps to be taken in connection with the transportation of deceased persons, it is advisable to contact the funeral director in the country of destination.

2. To bring the deceased out of the country.
When transporting a corpse, the provisions required by the country of destination are applied. The Coroner issues a laisser-passer. An application must be filed for the transportation permit. Although embalming of the deceased is not required by law, it is the standard procedure, since some airlines or shipping companies will only transport a coffin, if the corpse has been embalmed.

Basic information about cemeteries or churchyards (administration, ownership):
A. Cemeteries may be owned and operated by local authorities, churches, religious groups or private companies. In addition to general statutes of law governing all burial grounds, individual cemetery regulations will contain specific provisions regarding memorials etc.

B.

C. In groups of the population who live in close contact with the sea, a corpse may – under certain circumstances – be buried at sea. The Ministry for Agriculture, Fishery and Food will issue such a permit only if the provisions applying to the corpse and the coffin are respected. Scattering of the ashes of the corpse at sea is recommended instead of a burial by coffin. A person may be buried in a cemetery, or also on private land under certain circumstances. There are no statutory regulations requiring the burial of the cremated remains in burial grounds. The ashes may be put into an existing grave or buried in a special section of the cemetery, or the ashes may be kept in an urn in a residential building. With the authorities’ permission, the cremated remains may also be scattered in specific places as well as on standing or running water bodies.

D. There are no regulations requiring coffins for interment to be made of specific materials. In the majority of cases, coffins are made of veneered chipboard or solid timber. Moreover, caskets can be made of metal. For interments in tombs or mausoleums, solid-timber coffins or coffins lined with lead or zinc are normally used.

F. Coffins for cremation must comply with cremation regulations. These regulations, which are more or less identical for the whole country, provide that the coffin and the coffin lining consist of environmentally friendly materials.