Freedom from infection certificate

A freedom from infection certificate is a signed statement that the person who has died did not have, and did not die of, an infectious disease. It confirms that caring for them and transporting them carries no risk to public health. It is also called a free from infection certificate.

When you will need one

For a repatriation from the UK. Consulates usually ask for it with the embalming certificate and the out of England form, and some destination countries want a declaration that the cause of death was not infectious before they allow entry. It is also asked for when a consulate gives permission for a coffin to cross its country on the way somewhere else. It is one of the papers that has to be ready before the transport, by road or by air, can be booked.

Who issues it

The Health Protection Agency, or the doctor or health authority who attended the death. Out of hours, and in an emergency, the coroner can issue it instead. The international funeral director arranging the repatriation obtains it as part of the document set, along with the other certificates, so the family does not usually have to apply for it themselves. The official guidance gives no fee and no time limit for it.

If the death was caused by an infectious disease

The certificate confirms the absence of an infection, so it cannot be given when there was one. For four diseases the international rules are firm: after a death from plague, cholera, smallpox or typhus, a coffin cannot be taken across a border until at least a year has gone by. Those rules are written for coffins and do not apply to ashes, which are covered under taking ashes abroad.