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Personal data - Request for burial or cremation

Updated printUdskriv

Contents

Purpose of processing personal data
Data Controller and Data Processor
  Disclosure of information
The Data Protection Officer
What personal data is processed?
How long is your information stored?
Laws and regulations
  Your rights as a data subject
Complaints about the processing of personal data

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Purpose of processing personal data

The purpose of processing the personal data is to decide what should happen to the deceased – e.g. burial, cremation, scattering of ashes, division of ashes or other things, and to ensure registration of this in PERSON/The Digital Church Book. 

The processing is based on a legal requirement (see section on Laws and Regulations). 

Data Controller and Data Processor

The parish where the deceased resided at the time of death acts as the funeral authority and is thus the data controller for the processing of personal data in connection with the request. 

If the deceased did not reside in Denmark, the parish where death is registered or where the ecclesiastical act takes place is the funeral authority and the case processing authority for the request.

The Ministry of Health and Ecclesiastical Affairs and the authorities using the Ministry's joint systems have a joint data responsibility for the processing of personal data when the processing takes place within the Ministry of Health and Ecclesiastical Affairs' remit, cf. 'Cirkulære om fælles dataansvar' no. 9447 of June 15, 2021.

The data processor of the Danish National Church is DXC Technology.

Disclosure of information

  • The data controller discloses personal data from the request for burial and cremation in connection with an approved processing to the Danish Court Administration (on behalf of the probate courts).
  • The data controller discloses personal data from the request for burial and cremation in connection with an approved processing to a cemetery/cemetery if the deceased is to be buried in Denmark, or crematorium if the deceased is to be cremated.
  • The data controller discloses personal data from the request for burial and cremation in connection with an approved processing to a funeral director if the funeral director has submitted the request on behalf of a relative.

The Data Protection Officer

Questions about an authority under the Ministry of Health and Ecclesiastical Affairs processing of your personal data can be made by contacting the Data Protection Officer in the Ministry of Health and Ecclesiastical Affairs:

Senior Consultant Rasmus Paaske Larsen 
Tel.: 3392 3390 
E-mail: databeskyttelsesraad@km.dk

By letter: Ministry of Health and Ecclesiastical Affairs, Frederiksholms Kanal 21, 1220 Copenhagen K, Attn.: The Data Protection Officer.

Enquiries to other authorities' data protection officers should be directed to the relevant authority.

What personal data is processed?

In connection with a request for a funeral or cremation, data is processed about:

  • Notifier
  • Another contact person, if any 
  • Deceased
  • Spouse/registered partner of the deceased
  • The officiant of the ceremony (e.g. priest, imam, rabbi or other), if any 

The authority processes following information about the notifier:

  • Civil registration number or date of birth, if the notifier does not have a civil registration number
  • Name
  • Relation to the deceased
  • Address, postal code, city and country
  • Phone number
  • E-mail address

The authority processes following information about the deceased:

  • Name
  • Civil registration number or date of birth, if the deceased did not have a civil registration number
  • Address, postal code and city
  • Country of birth
  • Citizenship
  • Marital status at the time of death
  • Date and place of death
  • Religious affiliation
  • Where and how the deceased should be laid to rest
  • Date and place of any ceremony 

If the deceased is a stillborn child, following information is also processed:

  • The parents' civil registration number or date of birth, if they do not have a civil registration number
  • The parents' address, postal code and city
  • The parents’ citizenship

The authority processes following information about a spouse/partner of the deceased:

  • Name
  • Civil registration number or date of birth, if the person does not have/had a civil registration number
  • Address, postal code and city

The authority processes following information about the person who registers the request for burial or cremation if this is not the notifier or an undertaker:

  • Civil registration number
  • Name
  • E-mail address 

The authority processes following information about a contact person, if any:

  • Name
  • Phone number
  • E-mail address

The authority processes following information about the officiant for the ceremony (e.g. priest, imam, rabbi or other), if any

  • Name
  • Phone number
  • E-mail address

How long is your information stored?

  • A request for burial and cremation that is approved or rejected by the processing authority will be stored for 5 years, cf. ‘CIR 227 af 1975 om aflevering af kirkebogs-arkivalier’.  
    The declaration is then deleted, anonymised or transferred to archives in accordance with the rules of the archive legislation.  
  • A digital request for a funeral or cremation that does not reach the processing authority due to technical issues is stored in the system for 6 months, after which it is deleted.

An example of technical issues may be that the digital request for burial or cremation is not finally signed before the deadline, or that the deceased did not live in Denmark.

Laws and regulations

The processing and any disclosure of data to a crematorium or cemetery is based on Article 6 (1)(c) and (e) of the General Data Protection Regulation on legal obligations and the exercise of public authority, cf. 'Lovbekendtgørelse af lov om begravelse og kremering' § 5 - 7. 

 The processing of civil registration numbers is based on the legal basis of 'Databeskyttelsesloven', § 11, stk. 1.

Processing of sensitive personal data about the deceased's religious affiliation takes place on a legal basis in Article 9 (2)(g) of the General Data Protection Regulation, as the processing is based on national legislation in accordance with 'Lovbekendtgørelse af lov om begravelse og kremering' § 7 og § 8.

Disclosure of information to the Danish Court Administration (on behalf of the probate courts) takes place based on 'Dødsboskifteloven' § 4.

The processing authority may obtain relevant information from other authorities if this is necessary for the processing of the case.

No automated decision-making or profiling is used in connection with the processing.

The request for a funeral or cremation is processed according to the following rules:

Your rights as a data subject

You have the following rights under the General Data Protection Regulation:

  • Right of access to the data that the authority in question processes about you.
  • The right to have your information corrected in certain cases if it proves to be incorrect or misleading.
  • The right to object to the authority's otherwise lawful processing of your data.
  • The right, in certain cases, to have information about you deleted before the date of the authority's otherwise specified deletion occurs.
  • The right to transmit information (data portability) does not apply to requests for burial or cremation, as the processing takes place as part of an exercise of public authority that the data controller has been assigned by law.

You can read more about your rights in the Danish Data Protection Agency's guidance on the rights of data subjects.

If you want to exercise your rights, including requesting access to the processing of your or the data of the deceased by the processing authority, you must contact the relevant authority. 
You can find contact information on borger.personregistrering.dk.

Complaints about the processing of personal data

You have the right to complain about the data controller's processing of your personal data to the Danish Data Protection Agency in accordance with the rules in Article 77 of the General Data Protection Regulation.

You can contact the Danish Data Protection Agency from your digital mailbox on borger.dk or by e-mail to dt@datatilsynet.dk.