BRATISLAVA, May 1, (WEBNOVINY) — Based on the legislative initiative of the ruling coalition member the Freedom and Solidarity party (SaS), it should be possible in Slovakia to bury human remains that are not refrigerated immediately and not after 48 hours, as is the current legal requirement in the applicable laws on funeral service. Five SaS members of parliament who presented the draft amendment argue that the currently valid law interferes with constitutional rights of members of the Jewish community in Slovakia to freedom of religion. Jewish custom requires a burial within 24 hours of death. As the liberals from the SaS point out, the 48-hour waiting period has no medical justification. The proposed change does not affect the possibility to order an autopsy. If approved, the amendment should come into force in August. Parliament should deal with it in the first reading at its meeting starting on May 18.
Furthermore, the draft amendment suggests the abolition of 50-meter exclusion zone of a burial site and a 100-meter exclusion zone from the border of a crematorium. SaS argues that the current rules prohibit authorization of placing a building in these zones other than those that provide services related to funeral service. According to SAS, this state of affairs could be unconstitutional, because it allows to buildings to be placed in the exclusion zones of cemeteries and crematoria that were authorized in area planning documentation or permitted before November 1, 2005 and this does not reflect the reality that the exclusion zones only relate to new cemeteries. They further reject the reasoning for the exclusion zones by health concerns.
SITA
