The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced on October 20, 2022, that it will be proposing changes to the consumer protection regulations known as the Funeral Rule.
The most important of these potential changes is likely to be a new mandate that all funeral homes with a website must post their complete General Price List on that site, conspicuously. This is a change that we and other Funeral Consumer Alliance groups across the country have been recommending for years.
The FTC is also exploring other changes, including clarifications to the consumer disclosures about their right to decline embalming, and clarifications to how funeral homes advertise their cremation prices. Requiring funeral homes to fully and clearly disclose all cremation costs, including costs from third-party crematories, would be especially helpful here where all crematories, by Massachusetts law, are separate from funeral homes.
The FTC will soon seek public comment, in writing, to a series of questions. For full details, consult the official FTC staff report titled Funeral Industry Practices Rule: Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (16 CFR Part 453), which is available as a PDF at this address: https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/federal-register-notices/funeral-industry-practices-rule-advance-notice-proposed-rulemaking-16-cfr-part-453
Note: That report is very long (68 pages) and detailed. Scroll ahead to page 53 to find the questions on which the FTC is seeking public comment. They are numbered 1 to 40. Note: You do not have to answer every question; comment only on those you find relevant. (We expect the comment period to be only 60-days long, probably ending by December 20. We intend to provide more information soon, with a direct link for submitting comments. FTC has not yet setup that link.).
Thank you for your help now, and in previous years. Our advocacy in spring 2020 (with hundreds for comments submitted to FTC by consumers in favor of updating the Funeral Rule) helped move FTC to propose these changes.