Regulation of the construction and material requirements applicable, in particular, to coffins, pre-fabricated burial niches and graves, and funeral transport vehicles. Articles 2(18), 2(20), 2(21), 20, 21(5), 36(3) and 37(2) of the draft text.

Draft decree on mortuary services

The purpose of the draft legislation is to regulate health-related practices relating to corpses and human remains, the conditions governing the provisions of funeral services, and the technical and health requirements for funeral homes, wake rooms, crematoria and cemeteries, as well as inspection functions and the sanctioning regime. The scope of the draft excludes the rules governing administrative intervention in access to the activity, which are already laid down in specific sectoral legislation.

The text draws on the 2025 Consensus Guide on Mortuary Services as a technical reference document for adapting the regulations to technical, health and social developments. The rules governing thanatopraxy are also revised, and updated requirements are laid down for funeral homes, mortuary viewing rooms and crematoria.
The project also promotes the use of new materials and construction techniques, updating the design and manufacturing criteria for coffins and introducing the option of using prefabricated graves and niches that meet the applicable technical, structural, health and durability standards.
The experience gained from implementing the legislation in force since 1997 has highlighted the need to review and clarify certain technical requirements applicable to funeral products, facilities and activities, with a view to ensuring a high level of protection for public health, mortuary health, the environment and the safety of those using funeral services.
The legislation also aims to increase legal certainty for economic operators and the competent authorities by defining objective and verifiable technical criteria, promoting uniform application of the rules and facilitating control and inspection tasks. The aim is to ensure uniform standards in the management of corpses and human remains throughout the various stages of the funeral process.
As regards coffins, the legislation lays down the technical characteristics necessary to ensure that the body is properly contained during handling, transport, burial or cremation. The regulation covers the different types of coffins – ordinary, special, collection and cremation – and determines the requirements applicable to each of them according to their purpose. In particular, it lays down conditions relating to the materials, strength, leak-tightness and construction characteristics necessary to prevent health and environmental risks. These requirements are set out in accordance with the applicable UNE standards and the recommendations contained in the 2025 Consensus Guide to Mortuary Health. As regards prefabricated burial niches and graves, the standard includes requirements designed to ensure their strength, stability, durability and suitability for burial. These requirements are intended to ensure the proper conservation of funeral structures, prevent risks to public health and the environment and encourage the use of construction solutions that offer sufficient technical guarantees.
Furthermore, funeral transport vehicles are regulated through the establishment of minimum fitting-out, equipment and hygiene requirements intended to ensure adequate conditions of preservation and safety during the transport of human corpses and remains.
In short, the regulation is based on overriding reasons of public interest relating to the protection of public health, environmental protection, the safety of users and the need for up-to-date technical criteria for products and facilities that perform essential functions in mortuary health. The requirements laid down are objective, proportionate and nondiscriminatory and apply uniformly to all affected economic operators