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Burial law; official supervision
The municipalities and district offices must ensure that the provisions of Bavarian burial law are complied with. They can issue the necessary orders in individual cases.
Responsible for you
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Procedure details
Description
Every corpse must be buried, either by burial in a grave (burial) or by cremation in a cremation facility and burial of the ashes sealed in a solid urn in a grave (cremation) or by cremation in a cremation facility and burial of the urn from a ship on the high seas (burial at sea). The bodies and ashes of the deceased must always be buried in cemeteries.
The provisions of burial law essentially ensure that public safety and order are maintained. Important points here are health protection, the administration of criminal justice, the dignity of the deceased and the public's sense of piety. The municipalities and the district offices as state administrative authorities must ensure that the burial regulations are complied with. They can issue the necessary orders in individual cases.
If such orders are not possible or not permissible or do not promise success, the municipality or, in cases that cannot be postponed, the police, must arrange for the post-mortem examination, the burial and the necessary preliminary services, for the burial of miscarriages or of fetuses and embryos from abortions, for the disposal of body parts and parts of corpses and for reburials themselves or through contracted agents. The municipality and the police authority may demand reimbursement of the necessary costs from the party responsible for burial.
The competent authorities and their representatives may enter properties, rooms and movable property located there in order to enforce the provisions of burial law. The holder of actual authority must make these accessible to them. Anyone who is aware of facts that are necessary for enforcement is obliged to provide information about them immediately upon request by the competent authority; the same applies to the submission of documents.
The health authorities shall participate in enforcement tasks insofar as health concerns are affected; they shall be involved by the competent authorities in this respect.
Legal bases
Appeal
Administrative court action
Related issues
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Mortuary passport; application for issueA corpse passport is required for repatriations within Germany or abroad if the country to which the body is to be repatriated or a country touched during the journey requires a corpse passport.
Status: 17.04.2025
Editorial responsibility Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Gesundheit, Pflege und Prävention
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