To speed up the management of files and avoid unnecessary travel, the Regional Government is encouraging municipalities and funeral homes to use online declarations of death via IRISbox.
The current situation is difficult for everyone. Even more so for families experiencing the death of a loved one. In addition to this already painful situation, there are specific measures and restrictions related to Covid-19.
Whether or not a person died from Covid-19, arrangements are being made to keep contact with the deceased to a minimum for family, medical personnel and funeral directors.
In mid-April, the Regional Government adopted a draft order granting special powers relating to the transport of the deceased, in connection with the Covid-19 epidemic.
As part of the administrative management of deaths, the Government is encouraging municipalities to collaborate with the BRIC and use the IRISbox electronic counter for declarations of death and cremation authorisations. This is to speed up the management of files and limit unnecessary trips to municipal services.
With IRISbox, documents and signatures can be exchanged securely online between the local authority, the funeral home and the crematorium.
The city of Brussels was already using this online form; the municipality of Anderlecht was in the test phase and has gone live.
The communes of Evere, Forest, Saint-Gilles and Uccle have agreed to the Government's request, and will all have this feature on IRISbox within a few days.
The form is basically the same for all municipalities. The IRISbox team is in charge of customising it with the addresses of the hospitals and nursing homes in each municipality, and the different taxes and fees (which also vary from one municipality to another).
In practice, therefore, undertakers submit their applications via IRISbox. These are processed in the back-office by municipal officials who then issue the documents for the transporting and burial of the body to the undertaker.
Just over 500 death declarations were submitted online via IRISbox from 1 March to 21 April.
