Regulations of Nanning Municipality on Funeral and Burial Control

• Area of Law： Civil Affairs
• Level of Authority： Regulations of Districted Cities
• Date issued：07-29-2005
• Effective Date：09-01-2000
• Status： Effective
• Issuing Authority： Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

Regulations of Nanning Municipality on Funeral and Burial Control
(Adopted at the 30th Session of the Standing Committee of the Tenth Nanning Municipal People's Congress on December 1, 1999; Approved at the 19th Session of the Standing Committee of the Ninth People's Congress of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on July 29, 2000; Revised in accordance with the Decision of the Standing Committee of Nanning Municipal People's Congress on Amending the Regulations of Nanning Municipality on Funeral and Burial Control approved at the 15th Session of the Standing Committee of the Tenth People's Congress of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on July 29, 2005)
Chapter One General Provisions
Article 1 These Regulations are enacted pursuant to the provisions of the Regulations on Funeral and Burial Control of the State Council in light of the actual situation of Nanning Municipality in order to strengthen the administration of funerals and burials, promote the reform of funeral and burial procedures, protect environmental resources, and promote the material and ethical progress.
Article 2 The activities of funeral and burial and management thereof in the administrative areas of Naning Municipality shall be subject to these Regulations.
Article 3 The administrative department of civil affairs of Nanning Municipality shall manage funerals and burials of the whole city. The administrative departments of civil affairs of counties and districts shall manage funerals and burials within their jurisdictions. The People's governments of counties and towns and the subdistrict offices shall assist the administrative departments of civil affairs of counties and districts with the management of funerals and burials within their jurisdictions. The administrative departments of civil affairs at all levels shall be responsible for the specific work relating to funerals and burials.
The departments of public security, industry and commerce, city management, public health, environmental protection, land, planning, communication, forestry, affairs of overseas Chinese, and religion shall assist with the administration of funerals and burials.
Article 4 Funeral parlours, crematoriums, cemeteries and cremains repositories established according to law shall provide the services of funerals and burials to the public. Other units or individuals shall not establish sites for funerals and burials or to engage in funeral and burial services for the purpose of making profits without permission.
Article 5 Within the administrative areas of Nanning Municipality cremation zone is set up (hereinafter referred to as cremation zone) except for those areas where traffic is inconvenient for this purpose. Detailed zoning shall be issued by the Nanning municipal people's government and submitted for approval to the people's government of the Autonomous Region in accordance with defined procedures.
Chapter Two Administration of Cremation and Inhumation
Article 6 Inhumation is prohibited in cremation zones except for those who volunteer by themselves to donate their corpse after death or those whose relatives volunteer to do so for research or teaching purpose and cremation is performed locally unless otherwise required by laws and regulations.
Article 7 Prior to cremation following a death in normal circumstances, a death certificate shall be issued by a medical institution, public security authority or the judiciary.
Funeral parlours in villages shall not cremate the corpse of a deceased person without a death certificate issued by the villagers' committee where the deceased person normally resided during his/her lifetime attesting that the death occurred in normal circumstances
Article 8 In the cremation zones, the corpses of deceased persons shall be collected and transported by local funeral and burial service units. No other unit or individual shall be permitted to undertake corpse collection and transportation.
Medical units or relatives of deceased persons shall, within 12 hours (except for special cases), notify funeral and burial service units to collect and transport the corpses of deceased persons who died in the medical units.
The corpse of a deceased person whose residence registration belongs to another area shall be cremated locally. Those deceased persons transported due to special circumstances to the area where their residence registrations belong to shall be received by the department of civil affairs above county level where their residence registrations belong to and approved by the administrative institutions of funeral and burial of that area. The corpses shall be transported by special funeral vehicles.
In the cases that the death of overseas Chinese citizens, or residents in Hong Kong, the Macao Special Administrative Regions, or Compatriots of Taiwan occured in Nanning, the funerals and burials shall be handled according to relevant provisions of the State if their relatives request the removal of the corpse out of Nanning city.
Article 9 In a case of abnormal death the corpse shall be cremated only after approval by the public security authority. If relatives of the deceased person refuse to undertake the formalities of cremation, the funeral service units shall send them notice of cremation. If they still fail to undertake the formalities within 7 days of receipt of the notice, the corpse shall be cremated upon approval of the funeral service administrative institution.
Unidentified corpses shall be cremated in time upon approval of the public security authority.
The ashes of unidentified corpses or of deceased persons cremated compulsorily by law shall be handled by the funeral service unit if they are disclaimed or refused to be claimed by relevant persons or units within six months.
Article 10 corpses of persons deceased due to infectious diseases shall be handled according to relevant provisions of the Law of the People's Republic of China relating to the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Deseases.
Article 11 The medical units in cremation zones shall establish a system for the management of corpses of persons who die in their hospitals and shall prevent stealing of corpses. Medical units shall intervene in acts of stealing or removal of corpses or inform the department of civil affairs or local public security authority to handle the situation.
Article 12 For corpses to be treated with antisepsis, the units that the deceased persons used to belong to or their relatives shall consult funeral service units to settle a deadline for antisepsis. Once the timeframe for antisepsis expires, funeral service units shall have the right to cremate the corpse according to their agreement. All the costs shall be borne by the units that the deceased persons used to belong to or by their relatives.
Article 13 For people of minority groups or religious staff who are permitted by State provisions to conduct inhumation, corpses shall be inhumed in areas determined by the government. If religious funeral ceremonies are required, they shall be conducted in accordance with the relevant provisions of the State concerning religious activities. Support shall be given if cremation is chosen and there shall be no right for any other person or institution to interfere in. Persons who die from infectious diseases shall be handled according to Article 10 of these Regulations.
Article 14 People from inhumation zones may choose to be inhumed after death. Support shall be given if cremation is chosen and there shall be no right for any other person or institution to interfere in.
In areas where a cemetery has been established, corpses shall be buried in the cemetery, whilst in areas where no cemetery has been established, corpses shall be buried in waste or barren lands designated by the people's governments of counties and districts. They shall not be buried in farmingland.
Article 15 Land for funerals and burials shall be strictly controlled. The size of grave shall not exceed 3 square meters. For burial of ashes, the area of the grave shall not exceed one square meter.
Article 16 If the grave must be removed due to the needs of construction in the cremation zone, the units or individuals who will use the land shall work jointly with the local funeral management institutions and handle the situation according to the following provisions;
(1) Publicize notices in the local media and at the site of the proposed construction post announcement of the intented removal of the gravesite. Inform the owners of the graves to identify their graves within two months.
(2) For those who fail to undertake the formalities of grave removal within the time limit, the funeral service units shall cremate the buried corpse after recording and filing the details numerically and with pictures. The ashes shall be kept for two years. If the owner of the grave still fails to identify the grave before the expiry of the timeframe, it will be handled by the funeral service units.
(3) Graves without gravestones or without persons to claim shall be treated as graves without owners.
(4) The cost of removing graves, drawing pictures, numerical filing, cremation and retaining the ashes shall be borne by the units or individuals that use the land.
Article 17 For graves that already exist in farming lands, forests, city parks, alongside streets, scenic spots, cultural relics protection zones, reservoir and dikes, water source protection areas and alongside railways and highway arteries, local people's governments and relevant departments shall clear them in accordance with defined plans and procedures step by step. This provision does not apply to graves of historical, artistic and scientific research value.
Chapter Three Administration of Funeral Activities
Article 18 Funeral activities shall not impact on public sanitation, violate any legal rights and interests, disseminate superstitious thoughts, hinder public order and endanger public security.
Article 19 Ashes shall be interred deep in the ground, under trees or in a cemetery, or scattered. Burials in places randomly selected shall be prohibited.
Article 20 It is prohibited to produce and sell superstitious articles. It is prohibited to sell coffins in cremation zones. It is prohibited to transport coffins to cremation zones.
Chapter Four Management of Cemetery
Article 21 Cemeteries are public facilities provided for the community for the interment of ashes or corpses. There shall be two categories of cemeteries; public welfare cemeteries and operating cemeteries.
Public welfare cemeteries are those that provide burial services for local villagers. Operating cemeteries are those that provide paid burials service for residents in towns.
Article 22 Establishment of cemeteries shall be strictly controlled. The building of a cemetery shall proceed in accordance with the relevant provisions of the State and the autonomous regions.
It shall be prohibited to establish public welfare cemeteries in cremation zones.
Operating cemeteries shall be established and managed by funeral management organizations. Public welfare cemeteries shall be administered by villagers' committees.
Public welfare cemeteries shall not use farming land or forests. They shall not be administered jointly with units or individuals outside the administrative area. It is prohibited to sell gravesites.
It is prohibited to establish or restore graves of clans.
Article 23 It is prohibited to encroach farming land, forest land, barren land or other land under contract to individuals to establish graves for lease or sale without the approval of the departments of land administration and civil affairs.
Article 24 The establishment of public gravesites shall conform to the general construction and development planning of the city and towns. The layout of the cemetery shall be rationally arranged in terms with road traffic conditions, planting, good environmental sanitation and economical use of land.
Chapter Five Funeral Services
Article 25 Funeral service units shall collect and transport corpses within the required timeframe after receiving notices. Collection and transportation of corpses shall be effected no more than 24 hours from the time of death except in situations where special circumstances occur.
Article 26 Funeral service units shall strengthen the management and upgrading of funeral service facilities, rebuild the old cremation equipment and prevent environmental pollution.
Article 27 Funeral service units shall establish and publicize a standardized system for funeral services, and declare to the society.
Costs for funeral and burial services such as transporting corpses, cremating and keeping ashes, etc. shall be itemized, and executed according to the standards approved by the pricing administration departments of municipalities and counties. The standard of charges shall be publicized.
Staff members of funeral services organizations shall observe proper operating processes and professional ethics to provide decorous services. They shall be prohibited from taking advantage of their position by asking for money or materials from others.
Article 28 Relatives of deceased persons in particular financial difficulties may apply to funeral service units for a discount on the service charges.
Article 29 The charges for funeral services and prices for cemetery facilities shall be ratified by the department of pricing administration.
Chapter Six Legal Liabilities
Article 30 Persons who commit any of the following infringements shall be penalised by the department of civil affairs:
(1) Those who bury a corpse in a cremation zone shall be ordered to cremate the corpse by a specified deadline. If they refuse to comply, compulsory execution of the order shall be undertaken and all the associated costs shall be borne by the relatives of the deceased person, who shall not have the allowance for funeral and burial stipulated by the State.
(2) Those who steal or forcibly remove a corpse may be fined an amount not less than 1,000 yuan but not more than 3,000 yuan. The corpse shall be collected back by order, and cremated at the cost of the relatives of the deceased person.
(3) Medical units that fail to perform their duties, resulting in corpses being removed without proper procedures may be fined an amount not less than 1,000 yuan but not more than 3,000 yuan per corpse.
(4) Those who bury a corpse in farming land or forests in violation of these Regulations shall be warned and ordered to remove the corpse within a specified time limit. If they refuse, the corpse shall be removed from the grave by order. The owner of the grave shall bear all the associated costs.
(5) Those who establish graves for lease or sale in prohibited land areas or make profits by using public welfare cemeteries shall be ordered to remove such gravesites and/or cease the profit-making activities and may be fined an amount not less than 1.000 yuan but not more than 3,000 yuan.
(6) Those who produce and sell coffins in cremation zones shall be ordered to stop the illegal activities, shall have their illegal income confiscated and may be fined between one to three times the value of the coffins.
(7) Those who move coffins into cremation zones shall have those coffins confiscated and shall be fined an amount not less than 500 yuan but not more than 3.000 yuan.
(8) Units or individuals who undertake burials or provide services for burials in cremation zones shall be warned and ordered to stop their activities, and their illegal income shall be confiscated. For individuals, a fine of not less than RMB 1000 but not more than RMB 5000 shall be imposed; for units, a fine of not less than RMB 5000 but not more than RMB 10000 shall be imposed.
(9) Units or individuals who illegally remove and transport corpses in violation of these Provisions shall be warned and ordered to stop their activities, and shall be fined an amount not less than 500 yuan but not more than 1,000 yuan.
Article 31 Managers or executive staff who approve the use of vehicles to provide inhumation services shall incur an administrative sanction imposed by their managing department.
Article 32 Public security organs shall confiscate items of feudal superstition together with the illegal income of the units or individuals who disseminate feudal superstitions in funerals, and they shall be fined an amount not less than 500 yuan but not more than 1,000 yuan.
Article 33 Where provided otherwise by the laws, administrative regulations of the State and the local regulations of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the provisions of such laws shall apply.
Article 34 Any parties who disagree with the administrative penalty decisions shall apply for reconsideration or file a lawsuit in the people's court. If the party fails to apply for reconsideration within the specified time or fails to file a lawsuit with the people's court or fails to implement the decisions, the administrative department seeking to impose the penalty shall apply to the people's court for compulsory execution.
Chapter Seven Supplementary Provisions
Article 35 These Regulations shall come into effect as of September 1, 2000. Interim Provisions of the Nanning Municipality on Funeral and Burial Control promulgated on March 14, 1985 shall be invalidated therefrom.