Tasmanian Consolidated Acts

BURIAL AND CREMATION ACT 2002 - SECT 3

      (1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears –

"Aboriginal land" has the same meaning as in the Aboriginal Lands Act 1995;

"cemetery" means a place approved under the Land Use Planning and Approvals Act 1993 for the interment of human remains and includes any other place that was, immediately before the commencement of this Act, lawfully used –

(a) for the interment of human remains; or

(b) as a mausoleum or any similar structure which was suitable for the placement of human remains –

but does not include any land on which there is a grave as mentioned in section 41;

"cemetery manager" means the council, trustees or other person by whom a cemetery is managed;

"contravene" includes fail to comply with;

"council" means a council established under section 18 of the Local Government Act 1993;

"cremation" means the reduction of human remains to ash by a process involving the application of heat or flame, or by any other means approved by the Minister having the administration of the Public Health Act 1997;

"crematorium" means premises that are approved under the Land Use Planning and Approvals Act 1993 for the purpose of cremations and includes any other premises that, immediately before the commencement of this Act, were approved for that purpose under the Cremation Act 1934;

"crematorium manager" means the council, trustees or other person by whom a crematorium is managed;

"environmental health officer" means an environmental health officer appointed under section 10 or 11 of the Public Health Act 1997;

"exclusive right of burial" means an exclusive right of burial referred to in section 23;

"exhumation" means the removal of human remains from a grave but does not include the reopening of a grave if human remains are not removed;

"human remains" means the body of a deceased person and includes a part of the body but does not include any human remains that have been reduced to ash;

"interment" means the burial of any human remains in the ground, and includes the placement of human remains as mentioned in section 4;

"mausoleum" means a structure –

(a) that is designed to hold one or more vaults for the interment of human remains that have not been cremated; and

(b) in which at least one vault (excluding any memorial attached to the vault) is wholly above the surface of the ground or protrudes at least 150 millimetres above the surface of the ground;

"monument" includes a tombstone, plaque, tablet, cenotaph or any other structure or object intended to commemorate a deceased person;

"plot" includes a place in a mausoleum that is set aside for the placement of human remains;

"prescribed business" means a business for –

(a) the handling, storage or transport of human remains; or

(b) the preparation of human remains for interment or cremation –

but does not include any such business that is carried on –

(c) in accordance with the Anatomical Examinations Act 2006; or

(d) in connection with a hospital or nursing home; or

(e) as incidental to the donation of human remains;

"religious or cultural practice" means a rite or practice pertaining to religious or cultural ceremonies relating to the mourning process, including interment and cremation of human remains or a similar ceremony approved by the Director of Public Health.

      (2) A reference in this Act to the council is to be read as a reference to the council in the municipal area of which –

(a) a crematorium or cemetery is situated or proposed to be situated; or

(b) it is proposed to inter any human remains as mentioned in section 41.