About Funeral
Planning

Funeral
Pre-Planning

Financing
Funerals

Cremation

Idea Center

Consumer
Rights

FTC Misrepresentation Rules on Caskets for Direct Cremation

Funeral service providers cannot tell consumers that state or local law requires them to buy a casket if they are arranging a direct cremation. (A direct cremation is one that occurs without any formal viewing of the remains or any visitation or ceremony with the body present.) They also must not tell consumers, in the case of direct cremations, that they must buy a casket for any other reason.

If funeral service providers offer direct cremations, they must make an alternative container available and inform consumers that such containers are available for direct cremations. They do this by including this mandatory disclosure on the GPL.

An "alternative container" is an unfinished wood box or other non-metal receptacle or enclosure, without ornamentation or a fixed interior lining, which is designed for the encasement of human remains. It is made of fiberboard, pressed-wood, composition materials, or like materials, with or without an outside covering.

Note: The rule also prohibits crematories from requiring that a casket be purchased for direct cremation. However, the rule allows crematories to set standards for the kind of alternative containers that they will accept. For example, a crematory might stipulate that it will accept only rigid containers.