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The Government reminded members of the public to refrain from making hasty decisions when purchasing niches at private columbaria. Should they have any doubt or uncertainty, they should consider seeking advice from professionals for the purpose of protecting their interests.
Recently, some private columbaria have claimed that the implementation of the statutory regulatory scheme on private columbaria will cause the price of niches to increase, and have guaranteed to make a full refund or offer a replacement niche as a means of promoting their businesses. The Food and Health Bureau has updated the "Points to note when purchasing private columbarium niches" posted on its website (www.fhb.gov.hk) to remind the public that they should pay due attention to the risks inherent in purchasing niches from columbaria that do not comply with the relevant statutory and Government requirements. Members of the public are advised to make enquiries with the operators concerning the details of any guarantee, and how such guarantees would be honoured. Where necessary, consumers should seek independent legal advice.
A spokesman for the Food and Health Bureau said today (October 17), "We are drafting the Private Columbaria Bill. The relevant regulatory proposals have not yet been finalised. Furthermore, it remains to be seen whether the proposals would gain wide public acceptance and the endorsement of the Legislative Council (LegCo). Any conjecture about the regulatory scheme having an effect on the price trend of niches is unfounded.
"We aim to submit the Bill to LegCo for scrutiny in the second quarter of 2014. Pending implementation of the new legislation to regulate private columbaria, various government departments will continue to carry out inspections and take regulatory action against private columbaria according to relevant existing laws."
The Food and Health Bureau published in mid-2012 a pamphlet giving consumer advice to remind the public of areas that they should be aware of when purchasing niches from private columbaria. In order to help the public make informed choices when purchasing niches before the licensing scheme is introduced, the Development Bureau publishes and updates on a quarterly basis a list containing the relevant land/lease (user restrictions) and planning information pertaining to private columbaria that are known to the Lands Department or Planning Department, and premises which the departments have reason to believe are operating as private columbaria.
The spokesman reiterated that before the implementation of the new law, members of the public are advised to obtain full and complete information from the operators for the purpose of checking whether the columbaria are compliant with all the relevant statutory requirements, including land lease and/or town planning requirements. To protect their own interests, members of the public should ascertain how columbaria operators will look after the interests of their customers, such as whether and how they would refund or otherwise compensate customers under the scenario where the respective private columbarium subsequently closes down or is disallowed from operating.
Apart from publishing the consumer advice on its website, the Food and Health Bureau has been distributing the pamphlets through various channels including the six crematoria, two cremation booking offices and two cemeteries and crematoria offices of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) and the 16 hospitals under the Hospital Authority. The bureau will further distribute the pamphlets to elderly homes.
At the same time, the Government is making every effort to increase the supply of public columbarium facilities. The new public columbarium facilities at Wo Hop Shek Columbarium and Diamond Hill Columbarium, which provide about 43,710 and 1,540 new niches respectively, have been completed and are opening for allocation in three phases. The first phase allocation, which began in September 2012, has been completed. The second phase allocation is being carried out and invitation letters have been sent out (according to the priority number drawn) to invite successful applicants to complete the niche selection procedure. The second phase allocation exercise is expected to be completed by May 2014. The third phase, providing about 20,000 niches, is expected to start in the middle of next year. The Board of Management of the Chinese Permanent Cemeteries is expected to provide 35,600 new niches in the coming three years (2013-2015), while there are around 29,600 unallocated niches in private cemeteries operated by religious groups including Catholics, Christians and Buddhists. The Chinese Christian Cemetery and the Buddhist Cemetery are expected to provide 47,000 and 3,200 new niches in the coming two to three years.
In the long run, the Government has identified 24 potential sites across the 18 districts for columbarium development. Among these sites, the construction of 1,000 niches by the FEHD at Cheung Chau Cemetery will be completed by the end of 2013. As regards the other sites, the Government is conducting feasibility studies to confirm the suitability of the sites for columbarium development and has been consulting the respective District Councils (DCs) since the second quarter of 2012. Subject to the support of DCs and the LegCo for the projects currently under planning, the supply of new niches will cumulatively increase to hundreds of thousands by 2031. Furthermore, members of the public are encouraged to consider adopting green burials, including using free services provided by the FEHD for the scattering of ashes of the deceased at sea or the 11 Gardens of Remembrance operated by the FEHD.
Ends/Thursday, October 17, 2013
Issued at HKT 19:58
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