Definition: Certifier (of cause of death)

Category: Social statistics

Person authorized by law to issue a certificate, in a prescribed format, stating the underlying and contributory causes of death and other facts related to the event for submission to the local registrar or other appropriate authority. 

The certifier is usually the physician who attended the deceased in his/her last illness or in the case of deaths of persons who were not attended during the last illness by a physician or who may have died due to violence or injury, the medical-legal officer (e.g., coroner or medical examiner). http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ramon/statmanuals/files/SeriesF_84_EN.pdf