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Chapter Law Content

Chapter 2 Establishment and Management of Funeral Facilities
Article 4
Competent authorities of special municipalities, counties (cities) and townships (towns, cities) may establish the following public funeral facilities:
1.Special municipalities, city competent authorities: cemeteries, funeral homes, ceremony halls and mourning halls, crematoriums, and columbarium.
2.County competent authorities: funeral homes, ceremony halls and mourning halls, and crematoriums.
3.The competent authorities of townships (towns, cities): cemeteries and ash (skeletons) storage facilities.
County competent authorities may set up a cemetery and ash (skeletons) storage facilities depending on the demands. Township (town, city) competent authorities may also set up a funeral home, ceremony halls and mourning halls and crematorium depending on the demands.
Special municipalities and counties (cities) may plan and establish special areas for funeral facilities.
Article 5
Only a legal person or monasteries, temples and churches are allowed to establish private funeral facilities.
The transfer of facilities established by a private person or group before the implementation of this Act amended on December 14, 2011 shall only be a legal person or monasteries, temples or churches in addition to inheritance after the implementation of this amended Act.
The minimum area of establishment or land expansion of private cemeteries shall be determined by the special municipality or county (city) competent authorities with the content and nature of the facilities taken into account. However, the area of private cemeteries on a hillside shall not be less than five hectares.
The establishment of private cemeteries in the preceding paragraph may develop by stages and by allocated zones based on actual need with approval from the competent authority for approval.
Article 6
The establishment, land expansion, building expansion and rebuilt of funeral facilities shall be submitted to the special municipality and county (city) competent authorities for approval with the following documents. Such facilities handled by special municipality or county (city) competent authorities shall be reported to the central competent authority for reference:
1.Location map;
2.Land registration transcript and cadastral transcripts of the specific location range;
3.Configuration diagram;
4.Construction and operation plans;
5.Management method and fee standard;
6.The applicant’s relevant documents;
7.Certificates of land rights or land usage consent.
The land funeral facilities of the preceding paragraph across the special municipalities, counties (cities) administrative regions, shall apply for approval to the competent authority of the special municipality, county (city) with the largest area of the land of the funeral facility, and the receiving authority shall notify the competent authority of the other relevant special municipalities, counties (cities) to review the application.
Funeral facilities with approved establishment, land expansion, building expansion or rebuilt that need to make any change in the approved matters shall prepare the relevant documents and submit them to the special municipality or county (city) competent authority for approval. Those matters handled by the special municipality or county (city) competent authority for approval should also be reported to the central authority for approval.
Article 7
Special municipality or county (city) competent authorities that accept the establishment, land expansion, addition or alteration applications of funeral facilities in accordance with Paragraph 1 of the preceding Article shall make their decision within six months. However, since decisions shall be delivered only after an environmental impact assessment in accordance with the law, the required period shall be deducted.
The deadline of preceding Paragraph may be extended once, and the maximum period is limited to three months.
The construction of the approved establishment, land expansion, building expansion or rebuilt of funeral facilities shall be started within one year after the date of approval and completed within 5 years from the start date, unless there is a special circumstance that is approved by the competent authority for approval. Overdue construction shall have its approval revoked.
The preceding paragraph extended period is limited to a maximum of six months.
Article 8
Cemetery establishment and land expansion shall be done in an appropriate location in regards to soil and water conservation, environmental protection, military facilities and public health. The distance between the facility and the locations mentioned in the following subparagraph 1 shall not be less than 1,000 meters, and the distance between the facility and locations mentioned in the following subparagraph 2, 3 and 6 shall not be less than 500 meters. The facility shall keep an appropriate distance from locations mentioned in other subparagraphs in accordance with local conditions. However, where other laws or autonomous ordinances provide otherwise, the provisions shall apply.
1.Public drinking water wells or drinking water sources.
2.Schools, hospitals, kindergartens.
3.Prosperous regions.
4.Rivers.
5.Factories and mines.
6.Places where are for storage or manufacturers of explosives or other combustible gas, fuel, and so on.
For cemeteries designed for tree burials as mentioned in a preceding paragraph, the distance between the facility and locations mentioned in subparagraphs 1 to 5 may be shortened.
Article 9
The distance between the establishment or land expansion of the funeral home, crematorium or columbarium and the locations mentioned in subparagraph 2, Paragraph 1. of the preceding article shall not be less than 300 meters. The distance between facilities and the locations mentioned in Paragraph 6 shall not be less than 500 meters. facilities shall also keep an appropriate distance from prosperous regions as mentioned in subparagraph 3. However, where other laws or ordinances of self-governance provide otherwise, such provisions shall apply.
The distance between separately established and land expanded ceremony halls and mourning halls and the locations mentioned in subparagraph 2, paragraph 1 of the preceding Article shall not be less than 200 meters. However, where other laws or ordinances of self-governance provide otherwise, such provisions shall apply.
Article 10
The land designated for cemeteries, funeral homes, ceremony halls and mourning halls, crematoriums or columbarium within the urban planning area shall be used according to their specified purposes. Furthermore cemetery land within the boundaries of cemeteries that have already been established on non-urban land shall not be subject to the limitations on distances stipulated in the preceding two articles.
Article 11
The establishment or land expansion of public funeral facilities done in accordance with this Act on privately owned land may be levied in accordance with the law, if there is no agreed upon purchase price through negotiation.
Article 12
Public cemeteries shall include the following facilities:
1.Tomb base.
2.Columbarium.
3.Service center.
4.Public health facilities.
5.Drainage system.
6.Water supply and lighting facilities.
7.Grave roads.
8.Parking lot.
9.Outreach roads.
10.Cemetery signs.
11.Other facilities that should be established in accordance with the law.
The grave roads mentioned in the preceding subparagraph 7 are classified as bypass roads between grave zones and trails within grave yards. The width of the grave roads and trails shall not be less than 4 meters and 1.5 meters, respectively.
Walls, flowers, trees and other facilities or methods shall be adopted to appropriately segment cemeteries.
Cemeteries specifically for tree burial are not subject to the regulations set forth in subparagraph 1, 2 and 10 of the paragraph 1.
Facilities of cemeteries located in mountain townships shall be determined by the county competent authority for approval in accordance with the actual situation and are not subject to paragraph 1.
Article 13
Funeral homes shall include the following facilities:
1.Freezing chambers
2.Corpse disposal facilities
3.Dissection room
4.Disinfection facilities
5.Waste (sewage) water treatment facilities
6.Bier room
7.ceremony halls and mourning halls
8.Grief counseling room
9.Service centers and lounge for the families
10.Public health facilities
11.Emergency power supply facilities
12.Parking spaces
13.Outreach roads
14.Other facilities that shall be established in accordance with the law.
Article 14
Separately established ceremony halls and mourning halls shall include the following facilities:
1.Ceremony halls and mourning halls
2.Grief counseling rooms
3.Service centers and family lounge
4.Public health facilities
5.Emergency power supply facilities
6.Parking spaces
7.Outreach roads
8.Other facilities that shall be established in accordance with the law.
Article 15
Crematoriums shall include the following facilities:
1.Cremated remains retrieval room and ashes reprocessing facilities
2.Crematoria
3.Worship table
4.Service centers and family lounge
5.Public health facilities
6.Parking spaces
7.Outreach roads
8.Emergency power supply facilities
9.Air pollution control facilities
10.Other facilities that shall be established in accordance with the law.
Article 16
Ash (skeletons) storage facilities shall include the following facilities:
1.Ashes (skeletons) storage facilities
2.Worship facilities
3.Service center and family lounge
4.Public health facilities
5.Parking spaces
6.Outreach roads
7.Other facilities that shall be established in accordance with the law.
Article 17
Merged funeral facilities shall share the facilities mentioned from Article 12 to the preceding Article 16. The land expansion, building expansion or rebuilt shall do likewise after the completion of the funeral facilities is established.
The Statute of Autonomy of establishing facilities from Article 12 to the preceding Article 17 shall be set forth by the special municipality or county (city) competent authorities. However, the width of outreach roads shall not be set less than six meters.
Article 18
Funeral facilities shall be planned based on the principles of human nature in coordination with the surrounding environmental landscapes and have more plants and flowers planted in open spaces.
Cemeteries shall have public green open space not less than three-tenths (3/10) of the total cemetery area established.
Graves with flat grass in cemeteries shall have two times more green open space than the aforementioned paragraph.
Cemeteries specifically for tree burials or cemeteries with a special area for tree burials are allowed to have the tree burial area included in the area that counts as green open space. However, for tree burial areas on hillsides, only arbors can be counted as part of the green open space.
The ashes of tree burials should be processed by the ash reprocessing equipment before they are buried. If the ashes are placed in containers, the containers should be easy to corrupt and non-toxic.
Article 19
Special municipality and county (city) competent authorities may delineate certain waters in conjunction with the relevant authorities for the implementation of the ashes spilled or have delineation in parks, green spaces, forests, or other appropriate places for the implementation of spilled ashes or planting deposits.
The disposal of ashes in the preceding paragraph should be carried out only after the ashes have been processed by the ash reprocessing equipment. If the ashes are put into containers, the material of the containers shall be biodegradable and non-toxic. Areas for implementation of ash spilling or planting shall not have any signs or facilities of funeral appearance, and the implementation shall not damage any of the original landscape or environment.
The Statute of Autonomy of ash spilling or planting deposit autonomously mentioned in the paragraph 1 shall be conducted by the special municipality or county (city) competent authority for approval.
Article 20
After establishment, land expansion, building expansion or rebuilt of the funeral facilities have been completed, the relevant documents shall be prepared and submitted to the special municipality or county (city) competent authorities to be reviewed for compliance. The funeral facilities can be used or tomb base or ash (skeletons) storage units be sold only after the publication of the name, location, region, applicant and operator of the funeral facility. The establishment, land expansion, building expansion or rebuilt done by the special municipality or county (city) competent authorities shall also be reported to and reviewed by the central competent authority for approval.
The required relevant documents mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall be established by the special municipality or county (city) competent authority for approval.