The case concerns a man registered in the Swedish Population Register. A death certificate from Serbia shows that a man by the same name has deceased in Serbia. However, there is a difference of two days between the date of birth stated in the death certificate (22 February) and his date of birth in the Population Register (20 February). The Swedish Tax Agency rejected an application for the man to be deregistered from the Population Register since it was not confirmed that the person referred to in the death certificate was the same person registered in the Population Register.
The Supreme Administrative Court finds that in matters regarding deregistration from the Population Register because of death, there is no reason to impose other evidentiary requirements than those applicable to a change of registered identity information. In order for deregistration to take place, it must thus be clear from the investigation that the registered person has deceased.
The information in the Serbian death certificate regarding the person corresponds to what was registered in the Population Register in terms of the month of birth, the year of birth, the place of birth and the spouse’s name, including her maiden name. These are circumstances which indicate that the person referred to in the death certificate is the same person registered in the Population Register. This is also supported by the fact that the two different dates of birth (20 and 22 February 1927) appear in the Swedish Migration Agency’s personal file for one and the same person. Against this background, too great an emphasis should not be placed on the fact that one number relating to the day of the month of birth differs and that the applicant has not been able to explain why the information provided by the deceased does not correspond (cf. case HFD 2019 ref. 9) but, rather, it may be deemed clear from the investigation that the person registered in the Population Register has deceased.
Read the judgment here: