The Flemish cities and municipalities, general practitioners and hospitals, funeral industry and Flemish and federal authorities are working together with Athumi, the Flemish Data Utility Company, on a simplified and digital death declaration.
With the realization of a digital platform, they aim at a lighter and faster administrative process of a death. The doctor who determines the death no longer does this on paper, and enters the death data through a user-friendly web application. Local boards immediately receive the correct information for the preparation of the death certificate. In turn, the funeral director transmits the necessary information and then receives the delivered authorization for burial or cremation.
The last will is easily consultable, so the funeral is sure to conform to the wishes of the deceased. In fact, citizens will soon be able to register their last will and testament directly via MijnBurgerprofiel instead of at the municipal office. The platform will simplify file processing by the Department of Health Care and improve data quality by linking it to authentic data sources.
The platform is currently under development. We expect to have the funeral industry and local governments connected during 2025. In early 2026, physicians will switch to the new digital process, which from then on will be decretally mandatory for all deaths in Flanders.
Timeline
The first scope is to digitize the existing process of death declaration by the physician and the administration for the funeral industry. This digital, fast, secure and qualitative data sharing will provide significant administrative work savings for physicians, local administrations, funeral industry and Department of Health Care alike.
In a later phase, the platform will continue to evolve with optimizations and extensions such as the administrative relief of next of kin. In addition, the platform has been built in such a way that it can be reused in the other regions and communities of Belgium.
Background of the project
Digital Death Notification was born from the project call of “Municipality without a Town Hall,” an initiative of the Minister of Interior. This project provides initial funding for the construction of the platform.
For further management and development, a fee per death will be paid by the funeral director. Athumi has been involved since the start of the project (from Digital Flanders) for the feasibility study and to coordinate the construction of the platform.
After delivery we will be in charge of the further management, development and governance of the platform. Initiating municipalities (GzG): Antwerp, Aalst, Ghent, Lier, Leuven, Maldegem, Oostende, Tervuren
