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Project

Cross-border access to end-of-life services in Europe: a legal analysis

Within Europe, cross-border access to end-of-life services is quickly gaining in importance and, very recently, Belgium has become one of the main countries of destination. The proposed research project will be the first to systematically analyse the legal challenges that arise when European citizens want to access end-of-life services in another European country. The focus will be on assisted suicide tourism; euthanasia tourism; the import of suicide pills or materials; and the crossborder recognition of advance directives. The first goal of the research project is to examine the legal measures that countries have taken or could envisage to prevent their citizens from accessing end-of-life services abroad that are prohibited on their territory and, conversely, to examine the legal measures that are in place or could be envisaged in countries of destination to restrict foreigners from accessing certain end-oflife services on their territory. Research will be restricted to France and the United Kingdom as countries of origin, and to Belgium, the Netherlands, and Switzerland as countries of destination. The second and main goal of the research project is to examine the legal acceptability of the restrictions so identified, in the light of European Union law, human rights law, and international private law. In this way, we will determine which restrictions to cross-border access to end-of-life services in Europe have been or could be legitimately imposed.

Date:1 Jan 2019 →  31 Dec 2020
Keywords:International law, European law
Disciplines:Human rights law