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Domain: Causes of death (a) Aims The aim of this domain is the provision of statistics on the causes of death.

(b) Scope This domain covers the causes of death statistics as derived from national medical death certificates taking into account WHO recommendations. The statistics to be compiled refer to the underlying cause which is defined by WHO as ‘the disease or injury which initiated the train of morbid events leading directly to death, or the circumstances of the accident or violence which produced the fatal injury’. The statistics shall be compiled for all deaths and stillbirths occurring in each Member State, distinguishing residents and non-residents. Whenever possible, data on causes of death for residents dying abroad shall be included in the statistics of their country of residence.

(c) Reference periods, intervals and time limits for data provision Statistics shall be provided annually. The measures relating to the first reference year shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 10(2). The data shall be submitted no later than 24 months after the end of the reference year. Provisional or estimated data can be provided earlier. In the case of public-health incidents, additional special data collections may be established, either for all deaths or for specific causes of death.

(d) Subjects covered The harmonised and common data set to be provided shall cover the following list of subjects:

— characteristics of the deceased,

— region,

— characteristics of the death, including the underlying cause of death. The causes of death data set shall be established in the framework of the WHO International Classification of Diseases and shall follow the Eurostat rules and the UN and WHO recommendations for population statistics. The provision of data relating to the characteristics of stillbirths shall be on a voluntary basis. Provision of data relating to neonatal deaths (deaths up to the age of 28 days) shall recognise national differences in practice regarding the recording of multiple causes of death. The measures relating to the characteristics, namely variables, definitions and classifications of the subjects listed above, and the breakdown of characteristics, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 10(2).

(e) Metadata The measures relating to the provision of metadata, including metadata concerning population covered and information about any national specificity essential for the interpretation and compilation of comparable statistics and indicators, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 10(2).