Consumers to get better understanding of private columbariums, says health chief
A voluntary registration system will be set up to make information about private columbariums more transparent to protect consumers' rights, the health chief said yesterday.
The move came after recent land-lease disputes over whether human ashes should be regarded as human remains. The disagreements involved two private columbarium operators in Sha Tin - Memorial Park Hong Kong and Sai Lam Temple - and a private cemetery on Ma Shi Chau.
The cases have sparked public concern about the legitimacy of private columbariums, and whether people who have bought urns from them are legally protected.
Secretary for Food and Health Dr York Chow Yat-ngok said in the Legislative Council: 'To enhance the public's confidence, the government will look into ways to increase the transparency in this regard in joint efforts with the trade by, for instance, setting up a voluntary registration system to make the information more transparent with a view to enhancing consumer protection.'
Chow and the Food and Health Bureau did not give details about the registration system.
Chow said the definition of human remains did not include ashes resulting from the cremation of bodies, under the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance. But that interpretation was not applicable in private contracts, he said.
'Tenancy leases, land leases or deeds of mutual covenant are private contracts and should be made in accordance with the rules of interpreting private contracts, and must not be treated regardless of the context.'
Memorial Park Hong Kong executive director Gilbert Leung Kam-ho said: 'We believe the government should go one step further by licensing all columbariums across the city so that consumers will know much better and feel more comfortable about what they buy.'
The columbarium operator in Sha Tin is facing legal action by the Lands Department, which says it may have violated conditions of its land lease. According to lands officials' interpretation, ashes are regarded as human remains and the lease stipulates that the site cannot be used as a cemetery or storage site for human remains.
But the park, which has sold about 1,000 of its 3,300 niches, had concluded that human ashes were not human remains, making their activity legal.
'We think that as a columbarium, we have the duty to protect our customers,' Leung said. 'We also want to offer them more protection.' About 40 private columbarium operators would soon form an association to draw up self-regulating guidelines for the trade, he said.
Kowloon City district councillor Pius Yum Kwok-tung - who has been handling complaints from Hung Hom residents about nuisances caused by funeral services - welcomed the proposed system, but said: 'I think the system should be made compulsory, so that the public can really see how many private columbariums are out there providing how many niches.'
A Consumer Council spokesman said: 'The government has to reveal more about the system, such as how the public can learn about the list.'
Inconvenient ashes
The Consumer Council received six complaints about columbariums in 2007
That has increased sharply in the first 11 months of this year, to: 18
