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VICTORIA – New fee schedules for operators of places of interment and of crematoria in BritishColumbia were announced today by the Business Practices and Consumer Protection Authority.The fee schedules are effective July 1, 2005.
The BPCPA, an independent not-for-profit organization, assumed responsibility for the oversight of business practices and consumer protection in British Columbia on July 4, 2004. The BPCPA has been delegated the authority to set fees for the industries it regulates. The fees are set to achieve full cost-recovery by December 2005.
The new Cremation, Interment and Funeral Services Act, which came into effect on July 4,
2004, requires the conversion of all existing certificates of operation for places of interment and
crematoria in BC into licences. All new operators of places of interment and crematoria also
require licences under the Act.
The Authority will issue licences to operators of places of interment who conduct business on
both a commercial and a non-commercial basis. Commercial operators will be issued annual
licences and will be required to pay the proposed licence application fee for renewals. Noncommercial
operators will be issued five year licences at no charge.
New fees were also introduced for certificates of public interest to create new places of
interment, approvals for selling, leasing, encumbering or converting places of interment and for
disinterment/exhumation requests. These fees are consistent with the Authority’s mandate to
link fees to the cost of providing services.
Options for fee schedules were discussed at several meetings of the Cremation, Interment and
Funeral Services Advisory Group. This group includes key business and consumer stakeholder
representatives. Its purpose is to identify consumer and industry related issues and potential
solutions for consideration by the Authority and to provide feedback on any matters put forward
by the Authority to the group for consideration.
For more information, please visit the Advisory Group webpage at
http://www.bpcpa.ca/advisory-groups/cemetery/advisory-groups-cemetery.htm.
The Authority posted proposed schedules on its website in order to obtain input from all
interested parties. This input was reviewed prior to finalizing the fee schedule. For background
information about the fee schedules, please download the Frequently Asked Questions.
Download a copy of the fee schedule for operators of places of interment.
Download a copy of the fee schedule for operators of crematoria.
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Notice to Operators of Places of Interment and Crematoria of Final Fee Schedules
