Cremation Act 1929

No person shall cremate or be party or privy to the cremation of any human body elsewhere than in a licensed crematorium.

Nothing in this section prevents the dead body of any person of Asiatic race being cremated in accordance with the religion to which the deceased belonged, subject, always, to such regulations as may be prescribed in regard thereto.

In subsection (1)(b) —

The Governor may, subject to this Act, grant a licence to use and conduct a specified crematorium to any of the following bodies, namely —

the Board or controlling authority of any cemetery;

any association established and constituted in connection with the cremation of dead human bodies, and holding a certificate under the hand of the Chief Health Officer that such association is an association to which the provisions of this section may reasonably be extended.

Applicants for a licence under this Act must satisfy the Governor by statutory declaration or otherwise —

that they have sufficient authority to use the site or proposed site;

that they have erected and provided on the site in accordance with the regulations and to the satisfaction of the Chief Health Officer, such building, fittings, works, and apparatus as are necessary for the inoffensive, decent, and effective cremation of dead human bodies, or, in case the crematorium is not already established, that the Chief Health Officer has approved of the plans and specifications of the proposed building, fittings, works, and apparatus;

that notice of intention to apply for the licence has been given by advertisement, at least once in each of the 8 successive weeks immediately preceding the date of the application, in a public newspaper circulating in the city, town, or place within which the crematorium is erected or proposed to be erected, and that by such advertisement it was announced that objections to the granting of the licence might be lodged with the Chief Health Officer;

that where an objection to the granting of the licence has been lodged with the Chief Health Officer, the Chief Health Officer has over‑ruled the objection.

No licence granted for or in respect of any crematorium not already established shall have any validity or effect unless and until the Chief Health Officer shall certify (within one year from the granting of the licence) that the necessary building, fittings, works, and apparatus have been erected and installed in accordance with the approved plans and specifications, and that the relative regulations have been complied with.

It shall be lawful for the Board or controlling authority of any cemetery holding a licence under section 4 to define and set aside any portion of such cemetery as a site for a crematorium.

Where any portion of a cemetery has been defined and set aside as aforesaid, then, notwithstanding any Act or law to the contrary, the following provisions shall apply —

the portion of the cemetery so defined and set aside may be used only for the erection of a crematorium thereon, and for the burial of the ashes of dead human bodies cremated in such crematorium, and the Board or controlling authority may prohibit the burial in such portion of the cemetery aforesaid of any dead human bodies which have not been so cremated;

the Board or controlling authority of the cemetery, instead of themselves using and conducting a crematorium in such portion of the cemetery, may grant a permit for such period, and upon and subject to such conditions as they may think fit, to any association holding a licence under section 4, to erect a crematorium upon the portion of the cemetery aforesaid, and to use and conduct such crematorium thereon, and to use such portion of the cemetery for the burial of the ashes of dead human bodies which have been cremated in such crematorium.

Where the Board or controlling authority of a cemetery have granted to an association a permit as provided for in subsection (2), such association shall, during the continuance of such permit, be deemed to be a trustee of that portion of the cemetery to which such permit applies, and, in relation thereto, to have all the rights, powers, and authorities of the trustees of a cemetery in accordance with the laws for the time being in force and relating to public cemeteries, and the portion of the cemetery to which such permit applies shall to all intents and purposes be deemed to be a public cemetery, save and except that only the ashes of the dead human bodies after cremation shall be buried therein, unless the association otherwise determines.

Where any dead human body has been cremated in a crematorium, and the person who obtained the permit required by this Act for the cremation of such body desires to dispose of the ashes of such body after cremation otherwise than by burial upon the site of the crematorium, it shall be lawful for the Board or controlling authority of the cemetery, or the association in whose crematorium the body was cremated, to deliver the said ashes to the said person for removal from the crematorium.

Subject to subsection (1), the ashes of a dead human body after cremation shall not be removed from the crematorium in which such body was cremated, except for the purpose of burial in the site of the crematorium.

The Governor may from time to time —

appoint for the purposes of this Act, one or more medical practitioners to be a medical referee;

cancel an appointment so made.

Where an application in the prescribed form for a permit for the cremation of a dead human body, is made by a person to a medical referee, if he is satisfied that the applicant is an administrator or other duly authorised person to hold the permit, he shall subject to the provisions of this Act, grant the permit.

An application for a permit may be made by —

an administrator; or

a person acting with the written authority of and on behalf of the administrator; or

a person who satisfies a medical referee that no application for a permit is to be made by the administrator of the deceased person in respect of whom the application is made, and who shows to the medical referee a satisfactory reason why the application is not made by an administrator, and that he is a proper person to make the application.

Where the application for a permit is not made by an administrator, the person making the application shall —

make a statutory declaration in the prescribed form setting out the grounds upon which he claims authority to make the application; and

supply such further information with relation to the application as the medical referee may require.

A person who applies for a permit shall pay the prescribed fee to the medical referee issuing the permit.

The medical referee is entitled to retain the prescribed fee for his own use.

Where it appears to a medical referee that the death of the person in respect of whose body the application for the permit is made, whether the cause of death is shown on the death certificate of that person or not, is due to violence or unnatural causes, or if there are in his opinion suspicious circumstances surrounding the death, the medical referee shall refuse the application and report the refusal and the reason for the refusal to the coroner residing nearest to the place where the body is lying.

Where, except as provided in the last preceding subsection, a medical referee refuses to issue a permit, the applicant may apply to the State Administrative Tribunal for a review of the decision of the medical referee.

unless a certificate of cause of death has been provided under section 44 of the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1998 in relation to the deceased person;

where the deceased person died in a place outside the State, unless a certificate of cause of death has been provided under the law of the place in relation to the deceased person;

where the deceased person has left a written direction that his body is not to be cremated, except where the Chief Health Officer orders the body to be cremated, pursuant to powers conferred upon him under the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1911 or the Public Health Act 2016;

unless he is satisfied that the applicant for the permit is entitled or authorised to make the application;

unless he is satisfied that the fact and cause of death of the deceased person are definitely ascertained;

where the permit is in the first instance refused by him under the provisions of section 8(5), unless and until he receives from a coroner a certificate in the prescribed form authorising him to grant the permit;

where the coroner has signified his intention to investigate the death of the deceased person unless and until the coroner gives a certificate in the prescribed form authorising him to grant the permit;

where the medical practitioner who gives the certificate referred to in paragraph (a) is —

the parent child brother or sister of the deceased person or is the uncle aunt niece or nephew of the deceased person;

in partnership with the medical referee;

the medical referee to whom the application for the permit is made.

a medical practitioner other than himself who was in attendance at the birth of the child certifies in writing that —

the remains are those of a still‑born child;

the remains are not required to be submitted to post‑mortem examination in accordance with the provisions of the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1911;

he is satisfied after making such enquiries as he considers necessary that —

the child, whose remains are the subject of the application, was in fact still‑born;

there is in his opinion no reason for further examination and that the remains are not required to be submitted to post‑mortem examination in accordance with the provisions of the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1911.