2023 South Carolina Code of Laws › Title 32 - Contracts and Agents › Chapter 8 - Cremation Authorizations And Procedures › Section 32-8-340. Conditions for cremation, time period prior to cremation.

(A) Human remains may not be cremated before twenty-four hours have elapsed from the time of death as indicated on the attending physician's, medical examiner's, coroner's certificate of death, or an abstract of information from a filed death certificate available on the electronic vital records system. However, if it is known that the decedent had an infectious or dangerous disease and if the time requirement is waived in writing by the attending physician, medical examiner, or coroner in the county in which the death occurred, the remains may be cremated before twenty-four hours have elapsed.
(B) No crematory authority shall cremate human remains when the authority has actual knowledge that human remains contain a pacemaker or other material or implant that may be potentially hazardous to the person performing the cremation or to the environment.
(C) No crematory authority shall refuse to accept human remains for cremation because the remains are not embalmed.
(D) If a crematory authority is unable or unauthorized to cremate human remains immediately upon taking custody of the remains, the crematory authority shall place the human remains in a holding facility which may be located in a cremation room. Access to a holding facility must be limited to authorized persons and must be constructed and maintained to preserve the health and safety of the crematory authority personnel.
(E) The casket, cremation casket, or alternative container must be cremated with the human remains or destroyed unless the crematory authority has notified the decedent's agent to the contrary on the cremation authorization form and obtained the written consent of the agent.
(F) No crematory authority may simultaneously cremate the human remains of more than one person within the same cremation chamber without the prior written consent of the agent. However, nothing in this subsection prevents the simultaneous cremation within the same cremation chamber of body parts that have been used for anatomical study delivered by a licensed hospital or medical facility in this State to the crematory authority from multiple sources or the use of cremation equipment that contains more than one cremation chamber.
(G) A crematory authority may not remove dental gold, body parts, organs, or any item of value before a cremation without previously having received specific written authorization from the decedent's agent and written instructions on the delivery of these items to the agent. A crematory authority may not profit from taking or assisting in removal of valuables.
(H) Upon the completion of a cremation, and insofar as is commercially reasonable, the cremated remains and foreign matter of the cremation process must be removed from the cremation chamber and devices used to process cremated remains. Foreign matter must be disposed of as indicated on the authorization form signed by the decedent's agent and particulates and ambient dust must be governed by the department.
(I) If all of the recovered cremated remains do not fit within the receptacle that has been selected, the remainder of the cremated remains must be returned in a separate container to the decedent's agent. The crematory authority may not return to an agent more or less cremated remains than were removed from the cremation chamber.
(J) A crematory authority may not knowingly represent to a decedent's agent that a temporary container or an urn contains the cremated remains of a specific decedent when it does not.
(K) A crematory authority shall maintain an identification system that ensures identification of the human remains while in the authority's possession throughout all phases of the cremation process.
HISTORY: 1994 Act No. 435, Section 1; 2015 Act No. 72 (S.176), Section 3, eff January 1, 2016.
Effect of Amendment
2015 Act No. 72, Section 3, in (A), inserted "or an abstract of information from a filed death certificate available on the electronic vital records system".