Funeral Homes Must Return Wreaths to Bereaved Families; Outside Fruit and Alcohol Allowed

Funeral homes will no longer be allowed to arbitrarily dispose of floral wreaths without the consent of the bereaved families.

Uncooked outside food items, such as fruit and beverages, will be permitted to be brought in, and the prior explanation of funeral expenses will also be made mandatory.

The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) announced today (August 25) that it has revised the "Standard Terms and Conditions for Funeral Homes" to include these measures.

Previously, consumer complaints had been raised as some funeral homes restricted bereaved families from disposing of wreaths sent by mourners, instead selling them to wreath collection and reuse companies, or uniformly banning outside food.

In fact, complaints were filed through the e-People portal stating that a funeral home demanded wreaths be sold for 1,000 won or threatened disadvantages when the family tried to dispose of the wreaths themselves.

There was also a complaint claiming that taking advantage of the fact that bereaved families have no choice but to accept unexpected additional costs, a funeral home quoted funeral expenses at up to 10 million won but ultimately charged 16 million won.

With this revision, the FTC has made it clear that floral wreaths sent by mourners belong to the bereaved families.

This addresses the lack of clear regulations regarding the ownership and disposal methods of wreaths in the existing standard terms and conditions.

Consequently, funeral homes must now consult in advance with the bereaved families before disposing of any wreaths.

Additionally, while the previous standard terms had no separate regulations concerning outside food, the revised terms allow uncooked outside foods such as fruit, beverages, and alcohol to be brought in.

To prevent hygiene accidents such as food poisoning, the bringing in of outside-cooked foods—including rice, soup, pancakes, side dishes, and rice cakes—will be restricted in principle.

However, even for outside-cooked food, exceptions will be made if the business owner and the user agree in advance.

Furthermore, the standard terms specify the components of funeral service fees—such as facility rental fees, funeral-related commissions, funeral supplies costs, and cleaning and management fees—and stipulate that funeral home operators must explain these to consumers before signing a contract.

The use of standard terms and conditions is not legally mandatory.

However, as they were formulated by comprehensively considering the opinions of funeral home business associations, relevant ministries, and consumer organizations, the FTC expects funeral operators to actively adopt these standard terms moving forward.

An FTC official stated, "Disputes between businesses and consumers will decrease, and a desirable trading order will be established."

(File Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.