Misrepresentations prohibited by the Rule The Funeral Rule prohibits specific misrepresentations in six areas. 1. Embalming. You cannot tell consumers that state or local law requires embalming if that is not true. If state law does require embalming, you may tell the family that embalming is required due to the specific circumstances. Example : Your state law requires either refrigeration or embalming after a certain period of time. If you have refrigeration facilities available, you must give the consumer the option of either refrigeration or embalming. You also must tell the consumer in writing that embalming is not required by law if that’s true in your state. You do this by including the mandatory embalming disclosure on your GPL. Note : You must make this disclosure to all consumers, even if embalming is necessary. Unless state or local law requires embalming, you may not tell consumers that embalming is required for practical purposes in the following situations: ● When the consumer wants a direct cremation; ● When the consumer wants an immediate burial; or ● When refrigeration is available and the consumer wants a closed-casket funeral with no formal viewing or visitation. Example : A family wants to arrange a funeral with a formal viewing. The funeral will take place three days after death has occurred on a hot summer day. Your state does not require embalming. You do not have refrigeration facilities. In this situation, you can tell the family that the funeral home requires embalming as a practical necessity to delay decomposition of the remains and to preserve them for viewing. You may not tell the family that the law requires embalming in this case because that is not true. Example : A family wants to arrange an immediate burial but does not want to pay for embalming. Embalming is not required by your state law. Before burial takes place, one family member wants to look briefly at the deceased by lifting the lid of the casket. Here, you may not tell the family that embalming is required. The request to see the deceased does not constitute a formal viewing. In situations like the above example, you also cannot require the family to pay for “other preparation of the body” if they decline embalming. 2. Casket for direct cremation. You cannot tell consumers that state or local law requires them to buy a casket if they are arranging a direct cremation. (A direct cremation is one that occurs without any formal viewing of the remains or any visitation or ceremony with the body present.) You also must not tell consumers, in the case of direct cremations, that they must buy a casket for any other reason. If you offer direct cremations, you must make an alternative container available and inform consumers that such containers are available for direct cremations. You do this by including on your GPL the mandatory disclosure about alternative containers. An “alternative container” is an unfinished wood box or other non-metal receptacle or enclosure, without ornamentation or a fixed interior lining, which is designed for the encasement of human remains. It is made of fiberboard, pressed-wood, composition materials or like materials, with or without an outside covering. Note : The Rule also prohibits crematories from requiring that a casket be purchased for direct cremation. However, the Rule allows crematories to set standards for the kind of alternative containers that they will accept. For example, a crematory might stipulate that it will accept only rigid containers.
3. Outer burial container. You cannot tell consumers that state or local law requires them to buy an outer burial container, if that is not true. You also must tell consumers that state law does not require them to purchase an outer burial container. You satisfy this obligation by including the mandatory disclosure on the Outer Burial Container Price List. The mandatory disclosure about outer burial containers also tells consumers that grave liners are suitable for meeting any cemetery requirement. You may not tell consumers that a particular cemetery requires an outer burial container, if that is not true. You may want to keep updated rules of local cemeteries to make sure that your information is accurate. If the particular cemetery does require a container, then you should explain this to the family. 4. Legal and cemetery requirements. You cannot tell consumers that any federal, state, or local law or a particular cemetery or crematory requires them to buy a particular good or service, if that is not true. If you do tell a consumer that he or she must buy a particular item because of any legal, cemetery, or crematory requirement, you must identify and describe the particular requirement in writing on the Statement of Funeral Goods and Services Selected. 5. Preservative and protective value claims. You cannot make any representations to consumers that funeral goods or services will delay the natural decomposition of human remains for a long term or an indefinite time. Although the Rule flatly prohibits you from making this representation, the Commission recognizes that it is possible for some funeral goods or services to delay decomposition for a short period. Example : A family selects a funeral with a viewing. You may explain to the family that embalming will temporarily preserve the body to make it suitable for viewing. But, you cannot tell them that the embalming will preserve the body indefinitely. You cannot tell consumers that funeral goods (such as caskets or vaults) have protective features or will protect the body from gravesite substances when that is not true. Federal law requires you to make all warranty information available to consumers. Therefore, you must allow the family to read any of the manufacturer’s warranties. However, you should indicate that these claims are made by the manufacturer and not by you. Example : Mr. Morton has chosen casket A. You should allow him to read the written warranty that the manufacturer offers, but you must not adopt as your own any statement about preservation or protection that you know to be in violation of the Rule. You may want to inform Mr. Morton that the manufacturer has made certain statements about the product, but that you do not have personal knowledge of the protective value of the merchandise. 6. Cash advance items. If you mark up the charge on cash advance items or receive a commission, discount, or rebate that is not passed on to the consumer, you cannot state that the price charged for the cash advance item is the same as your cost. If there is an added charge, or if you receive and keep a rebate, commission, or trade or volume discount, you must tell the consumer that the price is not the same as your cost. You do this by including the mandatory disclosure on your Statement of Funeral Goods and Services Selected. The Rule does not prevent you from adding a service charge, nor does it require you to disclose the amount of that charge. However, some states may have laws or regulations that prohibit any mark-up on cash advance items.
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