Research Report
Ⅰ. Background and Purpose
□ For those who breed pet animals, disposition of pet remains is inevitable. This, combined with the necessity to ease the emotional pain of pet owners who just lost their pet animals, has led to the emergence of funeral and cremation services.
□ The impact of increasing pet owners and changing recognition has reached to the issue of the disposition pet remains. Still, the legislative conditions in Korea fall far short of expectations.
□ It is necessary to consider overall problems such as an environmental and sanitary problem caused by the disposition of pet remains and ease of pet-owners’ emotional pain through a humane treatment of pet remains through the promotion of lawful pet funeral and cremation services.
Ⅱ. Main Contents
□ Legal issues on pet funeral and cremation services
○ Status of legislation on the matters related to the disposition of pet remains in Korea
- As of July 2015, there are only 14 pet funeral and cremation service providers registered on Animal Protection Management System. This means that not many pet remains are properly disposed in Korea. According to the Wastes Control Acts, relevant entities like veterinary clinics pet remains as medical refuse but it is assumed that many pet owners treat their pet animals dying of natural causes as household wastes, putting them into a standard plastic garbage bag, or bury them illegally.
- Therefore, it is necessary to improve the current way of treating pet remains and begin discussions on practical methods of their disposition considering the sentiment of people - whether they breed pet animals or not - and as well as environmental problems.
○ Necessity of rules on the disposition of pet remains
- Growing demand for pet funeral and cremation services has resulted in a spring-up of unlicensed funeral and cremation service providers. Yet, they are only punished by fine not exceeding one million won under the current laws.
- Some argue that a complicated registration procedure impedes the promotion of pet funeral and cremation business. But there are more significant factors playing here: absence of specific matters related to the disposition of pet remains and undefined disadvantages or penalties for a violation of rules and regulations.
○ Pet cemetery and cremation business
- Full prohibition of arbitrary burial with no exceptions needs to be reconsidered since such prohibition may weaken the regulatory power.
- In regard to pet cremation business, it is important to identify any difference between the cremation of human bodies and pet animals’. This is because such differences may need to be specified by the law.
□ Case studies: Disposition of pet remains and related legislation in other countries
○ U.S
- Matters related to the disposition of pet remains are specified in State laws. Some states have highly sophisticated level of legislation with detailed provisions.
○ Japan
- There is a controversy over the regulatory approaches on those who operate pet disposal business. With no legislation available at the national level, however, each local governments regulates pet disposal service providers by applying their own ordinances, codes, guides, guidelines.
○ France
- Pet owners in France pay certain amount of contributions to local governments depending on the number of pet animals they breed. Then, the governments use the fund for the operation of pet incineration facilities or pet crematorium.
- Meanwhile, the country has a Ministerial Order related to the installation of pet crematorium issued by the Ministry of Environment. According to its general provisions, the Order is preferentially applied while heads of local governments who intend to permit the operation of pet crematorium are allowed to add special provisions after considering the characteristics of their regions.
□ Measures to rationalize regulations on pet funeral and cremation business
○ Redefine legal concepts
- Legal concepts need to be modified to endure the establishment of more comprehensive concepts rather than enumerating a list of animals included in a certain group to be covered by pet funeral and cremation services.
- It is necessary to make provisions for matters related to pet remains, separating them from wastes defined in the Wastes Control Act and preventing dualistic regulation of pet disposal.
○ Allow natural burial and exceptions
- While banning on arbitrary burial in general, it is necessary to create special provisions that make exceptions where certain requirements are met.
- Matters related to the method of natural burial need to be prescribed in provisions on the ways of pet remains disposal.
○ Classify the use of pet cemetery and pet crematorium by the Building Act
- It is necessary to specify the use of pet cemetery and pet crematorium to prevent over-regulation from restricting facility installation and poor regulation from causing damage to members of the surrounding community.
○ Reform the regulatory framework related to pet cemetery and pet crematorium
- The issue of pet funeral and cremation business cannot be simply confined to the matter related to regulating the relations between service providers and their clients. Rather, it is a comprehensive issue that requires considerations of social and moral aspects based on the respect for life, stricter environmental standards and settlements of disputes over unwanted public facilities.
- It is reasonable to recognize the need of discussions and consensus considering every possible problem, instead of suggesting the promotion of pet funeral and cremation business through deregulation and relaxation of registration requirements in favor of service providers.
Ⅲ. Expected Effect
□ This study which focuses on the measures to rationalize regulations on pet funeral and cremation business will be used as a useful reference to prepare a legal basis for the operation of pet funeral and cremation business that successfully deals with the main issues: protection of animals, emotional stability of pet owners and environmental protection.