Public Funeral Halls Regulation
(Cap. 132, sections 123 and 123C)
[31 March 1978]
(Format changes—E.R. 4 of 2019)
(Repealed 78 of 1999 s. 7)
(Repealed 78 of 1999 s. 7)
In this Regulation, unless the context otherwise requires—
burial (埋葬) includes cremation; Director (署長) means the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene; (78 of 1999 s. 7) human remains (遺骸) means the dead body or part thereof of any human being or any still-born child, but does not include ashes resulting from the cremation thereof. officer in charge (主管) means a person appointed by the Director to manage or assist in the management of a public funeral hall; (78 of 1999 s. 7) public funeral hall (公眾殯儀廳) means a mortuary designated under section 123A; quarantinable disease (疫症) has the meaning assigned to it by section 2 of the Quarantine and Prevention of Disease Ordinance (Cap. 141).The officer in charge of a public funeral hall may fix the hours during which, and the days on which, it shall be available for use by the public.
Any person wishing to reserve the use of any of the facilities of a public funeral hall to conduct a funeral or to conduct a religious or commemorative meeting relating to the death of any person shall—
make prior application in writing, on an appropriate form to be provided by the Director, to the officer in charge of such public funeral hall specifying the purpose for which it is required; and
pay to the Director the prescribed fee set out in the Schedule.
Applications under subsection (1)(a) shall be received at a public funeral hall between such times as the officer in charge may from time to time direct by notice posted in such public funeral hall.
Upon receipt of an application under subsection (1)(a) the officer in charge may in his discretion reserve to the applicant the use applied for subject to such conditions as he may think fit.
The exercise of any discretion by the officer in charge pursuant to subsection (3) shall be subject to such directions, if any, either general or in any particular case, as the Director may think fit to issue.
No person shall bring into any public funeral hall any human remains in an advanced state of decomposition unless encoffined in a hermetically sealed coffin.
No person shall leave in any public funeral hall any human remains for a longer period than 48 hours unless the same are encoffined in a hermetically sealed coffin or are embalmed.
Save with the permission in writing of the Director, no person shall leave in any public funeral hall any human remains whatsoever for longer than 7 days.
An applicant under section 5(1) shall produce to the officer in charge when any human remains are received into a public funeral hall—
in the case of interment of any human remains of a person who has died in Hong Kong, a death certificate or a permit of a police officer issued under the proviso to section 16(1) of the Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance (Cap. 174); or
in the case of cremation of any human remains of a person who has died in Hong Kong, a permit granted by the Director of Health under section 5(1) of the Cremation and Gardens of Remembrance Regulation (Cap. 132 sub. leg. M) and a death certificate; or (10 of 1986 s. 32; L.N. 76 of 1989; E.R. 4 of 2019)
in any other case, such documents as the Director may require.
The documents specified in subsection (1) shall be retained by the officer in charge until the human remains are removed from the public funeral hall for burial or other authorized disposal when they shall be returned to the person producing them.
No human remains shall be embalmed or prepared for burial or encoffining in any public funeral hall otherwise than in a room set aside exclusively for such purpose.
At all times during which any human remains are retained in any such room, the windows thereof shall be kept fully opened or, if the room is ventilated wholly or partly by mechanical means, the ventilating system shall be kept in operation.
No person shall, in any public funeral hall, handle, or carry out any process of embalming, preparing or treating, the human remains of any person who, to the knowledge or belief of such person or of the officer in charge, died while suffering from a quarantinable disease, unless he is wearing a rubber apron, or other protective clothing of a type approved by the Director, and rubber gloves. (78 of 1999 s. 7)
Any such rubber apron, protective clothing and rubber gloves and any part of a public funeral hall where those remains were kept, embalmed, prepared or treated shall be disinfected immediately after use.
The officer in charge of a public funeral hall shall keep a register in English or Chinese in which there shall be recorded the particulars listed in subsection (2) together with—
the date on, and the time at, which any human remains were received into the public funeral hall; and
the date on, and the time at, which any human remains were removed from the public funeral hall.
An applicant under section 5 shall furnish to the officer in charge of a public funeral hall the following particulars—
the name and address of the applicant;
the name and address of the deceased;
the age or approximate age of the deceased;
the sex of the deceased;
the date, place and cause of death of the deceased;
the date and number of the death certificate and of any permit for the burial, cremation, import to or removal from Hong Kong, as the case may be, of the remains of the deceased;
the name and address of the medical practitioner (if any) who certified as to the death of the deceased, and of the person signing any permit for burial, cremation, import to or removal from Hong Kong, as the case may be, of the remains of the deceased;
the method by which, and, as appropriate—
the cemetery and space plot or grave number; or
the crematorium,
where, the remains of the deceased will be finally disposed of after removal from the public funeral hall; and
if the deceased died while suffering from a quarantinable disease, whether or not those parts of the public funeral hall in which the remains of the deceased were kept were disinfected after such remains were removed therefrom.
The officer in charge, or any person authorized by him in that behalf, may direct any person forthwith to leave a public funeral hall or any part thereof—
whom he has reason to believe has committed or is about to commit an offence punishable under this Regulation; or
who refuses to obey any reasonable order given by him in furtherance of the proper management of the public funeral hall.
Any person who fails to leave a public funeral hall when so directed by the officer in charge pursuant to subsection (1) commits an offence and may, in addition to any penalty to which he may become liable, forthwith be removed from the public funeral hall or any part thereof at the discretion of the officer in charge.
Any person who, in any public funeral hall—
sells or lets for hire, or offers or exposes for sale or letting for hire, any article or thing without the written consent of the Director;
posts, affixes or distributes any handbill, card, circular or advertisement of any kind whatsoever;
holds, promotes or takes part in any public meeting, other than a meeting of a religious or commemorative nature in respect of the dead;
wilfully disturbs or interferes with any funeral service or any religious or commemorative meeting;
spits, except into a receptacle provided for such purpose or toilet, or into a channel or drain provided for the carriage of sewage, waste water or excretal matter; or
behaves in a noisy or unseemly manner or is improperly or inadequately clad,
commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine at level 2.
Any person who contravenes section 6(1), 6(2), 6(3), 7(1), 8(1), 8(2), 9(1), 9(2) or 10(2) commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine at level 2.
Without prejudice to any other enactment relating to the prosecution of criminal offences and without prejudice to the powers of the Secretary for Justice in relation to the prosecution of such offences, prosecutions for an offence under any of this Regulation may be brought in the name of the Director.
The prescribed fees set out in the second column of the Schedule shall be payable to the Director for the appropriate services listed in the first column of the Schedule. (78 of 1999 s. 7)
(Repealed 78 of 1999 s. 7)
| Use of one body dressing room | $150 for each human remains | |
| Use of one reposing room | $200 for each 24 hours or part thereof | |
| Use of one large service hall, as shown green on a plan signed by the Director and deposited in the office of the officer in charge where the remains of the deceased are intended for burial | $300 for the first hour, and for each hour or part of an hour thereafter | |
| Use of one large service hall, as shown green on a plan signed by the Director and deposited in the office of the officer in charge where the remains of the deceased are intended for cremation | $150 for the first hour, and for each hour or part of an hour thereafter | |
| Use of one small service hall, as shown brown on a map signed by the Director and deposited in the office of the officer in charge where the remains of the deceased are intended for burial | $200 for the first hour, and for each hour or part of an hour thereafter | |
| Use of one small service hall, as shown brown on a map signed by the Director and deposited in the office of the officer in charge where the remains of the deceased are intended for cremation | $100 for the first hour, and for each hour or part of an hour thereafter |