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Burial and Cremation Act 1964

General provisions

46AA: Certificate of cause of death or coroner's authorisation required before body disposed of

You could also call this:

"You need a special document before you can bury or cremate a body."

Illustration for Burial and Cremation Act 1964

You cannot bury or cremate a body unless you have a certificate of cause of death or a coroner's authorisation. You need one of these documents to dispose of a body. After you get one of these documents, you must send a copy to the department in charge of this Act. You have to follow this rule, but there is an exception in section 46A. This means that section 46A has special conditions that you must consider. You must check section 46A to see how it applies to you. When you get a certificate of cause of death or a coroner's authorisation, you must send a copy to the right department. This department is in charge of the Burial and Cremation Act. You must do this after you get the certificate or authorisation.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM1806626.

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Part 7General provisions

46AACertificate of cause of death or coroner's authorisation required before body disposed of

  1. A body must not be buried, cremated, or otherwise disposed of unless the person in charge of the disposal has been given—

  2. a certificate of cause of death; or
    1. a coroner's authorisation.

      1. After receiving under subsection (1) a certificate of cause of death or coroner's authorisation, the person in charge of the disposal must send a copy of that certificate or authorisation to the department that administers this Act.

      2. This section is subject to section 46A.

      Notes
      • Section 46AA: replaced, on , by section 5 of the Burial and Cremation Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 74).