There are nineteen licensed funeral homes operating in Cyprus, with unlicensed ones even operating out of private homes, where the bodies are taken until burial.
Speaking on the Alpha News program, Savvas Parmatzias, First Interior Officer and Funeral Home Inspector, commenting on the allegations made by the Representative of Licensed Funeral Homes, Solonas Melas, regarding fake death certificates, explained that the Ministry of the Interior is not involved in any way. The Ministry is involved from the point of receiving the remains until the burial, he added.
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Regarding illegal funeral homes, Mr. Parmatzias noted that the Ministry conducts inspections and has filed complaints with the police, and, as they have been informed, several criminal convictions have been handed down.
However, the root of the problem lies in the lack of deterrent penalties, as the fine is only 300 euros.
“When a funeral home is reported for operating illegally—that is, without the necessary licenses or the required expertise—and is recently fined 300 euros, you can see that it’s not even a deterrent, and in any case, they don’t care. In other words, they can continue as usual since they’ll earn more than 1,000 euros from a single funeral.”
The relevant bill, which was introduced in Parliament in 2024, is still pending.
The bill provides for a significant increase in fines and prison sentences.
“The practice—which in some cases continues even today—of operating funeral homes out of private residences cannot continue. That is, for a body to be collected and transported to a home where funeral services are provided—obviously illegally.”
