Reporting deaths and death certificates

Are you a funeral director in the Netherlands? If someone has died, this must be reported to the municipality. If you are a funeral director you may do this on behalf of the next of kin. Only after declaration of death may a deceased person be buried or cremated.

Reporting a death

You report a person's death to the municipalty where the death has occurred. You can do this digitally, using eHerkenning. To report a death you need a death certificate. In the case of a death by natural causes, you get this certificate from the attending physician.

You will receive an A certificate and a B certificate:

• The A certificate is the declaration of death, with the name of the deceased and the date of death.
• The B certificate (in Dutch) states the cause of death. This is for Statistics Netherlands (CBS).

After reporting the death, the municipality will provide you with:

• a death (registration) certificate (overlijdensakte)
• authorisation for burial, authorisation for cremation, or authorisation for dissection (when the body is given to science)

You need these documents to be allowed to bury or cremate the deceased.

Early funeral

In the Netherlands, a deceased cannot be buried or cremated within 36 hours (1.5 days) after their death (in Dutch). This is because in some cases the police may need to carry out a criminal investigation, if there are concerns on the cause of death.

Do the next of kin wish to have the funeral sooner, for example for religious reasons? You need a licence from the municipality in which the death occurred. You can only apply for this licence with a statement of no objection from the public prosecutor and the mayor.

Deferred funeral

Do the next of kin wish that you bury or cremate the deceased later than 6 working days after their death (in Dutch)? You need a licence and permission from the mayor. You can apply for the licence to the municipality in which the deceased died. Reason to defer a funeral can for instance be that family needs to travel from abroad to attend the funeral. Religious grounds can also be a reason to defer a funeral.