In 2023, the activities of morgues providing services to hospitals received more attention than usual. In 2023, the Competition Authority terminated two supervisory proceedings against morgues operating at hospitals and issued a recommendation to all Estonian hospitals. In both supervisory proceedings, the issue was the allegedly very high fee for issuing the deceased by the undertakings providing morgue services. In Estonia, it is common practice for hospitals themselves not to generally provide morgue services, and some funeral and morgue service providers have under the procurement procedure won the right to provide morgue services in the hospital premises, renting premises suitable for the provision of the service. Therefore, it is common practice for deceased individuals in hospitals to be taken to the morgue located within the hospital premises. In the supervisory proceedings conducted by the Competition Authority, the situation was also resolved in the manner described above. However, this in turn creates an opportunity for the undertakings providing morgue services to design their own price lists without significant competitive pressure, since the undertakings providing the service have the confidence that the deceased individuals from the hospital will be brought to the morgue managed by them. The service of delivering the deceased is a service that cannot be chosen by a loved one of the deceased, so the service provider must always be paid for the delivery of the deceased. As a result of one of the supervisory proceedings conducted by the Competition Authority, the amount of the fee for the delivery of the deceased was reduced to the extent provided by law, since under the Public Procurement Act it is possible to change the price by up to 10% during the performance of the contract. In the case of the second supervisory proceedings, it was revealed during the proceedings that this was the average fee charged for a similar service in Estonia and that the fee charged is in no way unfair and the allegations made in the media towards the undertaking were misleading.
The Competition Authority is of the opinion that it would be reasonable to set out mechanisms in the competition or procurement terms of morgue premises that would preclude potential disputes and issues regarding pricing. As a result, the Competition Authority made a recommendation to hospitals operating in Estonia, according to which the Competition Authority considers the most reasonable solution to be if the maximum possible rental price is set in competition and/or procurement terms and in order to win the procurement, the lowest possible service fees charged to consumers must be offered. By setting a maximum rental price at a level corresponding to the market price, the economic interests of hospitals are reasonably protected on one hand, while on the other hand, the service fees charged to consumers are formed in a real competitive situation. Among other things, the Competition Authority advised hospitals to set out in their procurement terms that, in addition to the free preservation fee for the first 24 hours, the delivery of the deceased should also be free of charge during the first 24 hours. In addition, in its recommendation, the Competition Authority found that it would be advisable for hospitals to introduce to the relatives of the deceased all providers of morgue services operating in their area, including 28 under what conditions and how it would be possible to use service providers operating outside the hospital.