Overview

• The new rules allow urns to be lowered from vessels on the Rhine, Mosel, Saar and Lahn.
• The Health Ministry says applications for special approvals are open, with a forthcoming regulation to define locations and procedures.
• Provisional practice requires a rapidly dissolving cellulose urn and forbids releases from bridges, shores or piers.
• Funeral directors and ship operators conducted a trial on the Mosel and report strong interest and new partnerships.
• The overhaul also enables shroud burials, ash‑to‑diamond memorials and, in defined cases, home urn custody or scattering under a tree, with some providers expecting river funerals to cost less than cemetery interments.