Environmental Public Health (Cemeteries) (Amendment) Regulations 2022

No. S 416

Environmental Public Health Act 1987

Environmental Public Health (Cemeteries)
(Amendment) Regulations 2022

In exercise of the powers conferred by section 111 of the Environmental Public Health Act 1987, the National Environment Agency, with the approval of the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, makes the following Regulations:

Citation and commencement

1. These Regulations are the Environmental Public Health (Cemeteries) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 and come into operation on 29 May 2022.

Amendment of regulation 2

2. In regulation 2 of the Environmental Public Health (Cemeteries) Regulations (Rg 9) (called in these Regulations the principal Regulations) —

(a)

replace the definition of “corpse” with —

“ “corpse” means the body or remains of a deceased person or stillborn child, whether decomposed or otherwise, but does not include ashes;”;

(b)

after the definition of “grave plot”, insert —

“ “medical practitioner” means a registered medical practitioner under the Medical Registration Act 1997 who holds a valid practising certificate granted under that Act;”;

(c)

in the definition of “owner of a private cemetery”, replace the full‑stop at the end with a semi‑colon; and

(d)

after the definition of “owner of a private cemetery”, insert —

“ “RBDA” means the Registration of Births and Deaths Act 2021, or the repealed Registration of Births and Deaths Act 1937 that was in force immediately before 29 May 2022;

“stillbirth” has the meaning given by section 2(1) of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act 2021;

“stillborn child” has the meaning given by section 2(1) of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act 2021.”.

Amendment of regulation 3

3. In regulation 3 of the principal Regulations, replace paragraph (1) with —

“(1) A corpse must not be buried unless —

(a)	the Director‑General has issued a permit for the burial of the corpse; and
(b)	the death or stillbirth (as the case may be) has been registered under the RBDA or, in the absence of such registration, a medical practitioner has issued a written confirmation of the death or stillbirth, as the case may be.

(1A) Paragraph (1) does not apply to a corpse if —

(a)	the death or stillbirth (as the case may be) occurred outside Singapore; and
(b)	a certificate certifying the cause of death of the deceased person or stillborn child (as the case may be) has been issued by a competent authority of the country or territory in which the death or stillbirth (as the case may be) occurred.”.

Amendment of regulation 4

4. In regulation 4 of the principal Regulations, replace paragraph (2) with —

“(2) The application must be made by —

(a)

in the case of a deceased person —

(i)	the executor of the estate of the deceased person or the nearest surviving relative of the deceased person;
(ii)	a person who is duly authorised to do so by any person mentioned in sub‑paragraph (i); or
(iii)	any other person who has given sufficient reason to the Director‑General as to why the application is not being made by any of the persons mentioned in sub‑paragraphs (i) and (ii); and

(b)

in the case of a stillborn child —

(i)	the nearest surviving relative of the stillborn child, or a person who is duly authorised to do so by that relative; or
(ii)	any other person who has given sufficient reason to the Director‑General as to why the application is not being made by any of the persons mentioned in sub‑paragraph (i).”.

Deletion of regulation 5

5. Delete regulation 5 of the principal Regulations.

Amendment of regulation 6

6. In regulation 6(3) of the principal Regulations —

(a)

replace “The following particulars shall be recorded in the register of burials:” with “For each burial in a cemetery, the following particulars must be recorded in the register of burials kept in the cemetery:”;

(b)

replace sub‑paragraphs (a) and (b) with —

“(a)	the serial number and date of the burial;”;

(c)

in sub‑paragraph (c), before “the name”, insert “where the burial is for a deceased person —”;

(d)

in sub-paragraph (d), replace “his death” with “death or stillbirth, as the case may be”;

(e)

after sub-paragraph (d), insert —

“(da)

the cause of death of the deceased person or stillborn child, as the case may be;”;

(f)

in sub-paragraph (e), delete “and” at the end; and

(g)

replace sub-paragraph (f) with —

“(f)	where regulation 3(1) applies — the document number of the certificate of death or stillbirth issued under the RBDA, or (where such certificate has not been issued) the document number of the written confirmation mentioned in regulation 3(1)(b) that is issued, for the death or stillbirth, as the case may be;
(g)	where regulation 3(1A) applies — the document number of the certificate mentioned in regulation 3(1A)(b) that is issued for the death or stillbirth (as the case may be), and the name of the foreign country or territory in which the certificate is issued.”.

Amendment of regulation 13

7. In regulation 13(b) of the principal Regulations, replace “certificate” with “document”.

Amendment of Schedule

8. In the Schedule to the principal Regulations —

(a)

in item 1, in the heading, after “Children below 10 years of age”, insert “, or stillborn children”;

(b)

in item 1(a), replace “where the deceased person is a citizen or permanent resident of Singapore:” with “for a deceased person who was a citizen of Singapore or a permanent resident of Singapore at the time of death, or for a stillborn child that would have been a citizen of Singapore at birth had the child been born alive:”;

(c)

in item 1(a)(i) to (v), replace “Chua” with “Choa”;

(d)

in item 1(b), replace “where the deceased person is not a citizen or permanent resident of Singapore” with “for a deceased person who was not a citizen of Singapore or a permanent resident of Singapore at the time of death, or for a stillborn child that would not have been a citizen of Singapore at birth had the child been born alive”; and

(e)

replace the Note with —

“Note:

In this Schedule, “permanent resident of Singapore”, for a deceased person, means a deceased person who, at the time of death, was the holder of a valid entry permit issued under section 10 of the Immigration Act 1959 or a valid re‑entry permit issued under section 11 of that Act, that allowed the person to remain in Singapore indefinitely without restriction.”.

[G.N. Nos. S 147/2000; S 494/2000; S 715/2006; S 555/2010; S 791/2014; S 204/2021; S 318/2021]

Made on 24 May 2022.

LEE CHUAN SENG

Chairperson,
National Environment Agency,
Singapore.

[MSE/C030/01/101; NEA/LD/176; AG/LEGIS/SL/95/2020/7 Vol. 1]

(To be presented to Parliament under section 111(4) of the Environmental Public Health Act 1987).

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