1. Association members offer dignified personal cremation or burial facilities for companion animals directly to the public. All services are carried out at the members own facilities or may be referred to those of fellow members.
2. All members carry the permissions and licences deemed necessary by their Local Authorities.
3. Members carry out open, honest and ethical businesses and invite inspections and queries from the public.
4. Members will do their utmost to ensure that pet owners fully understand the services offered and receive the services they request.
5. In providing cremation and burial services members ensure that companion animals are treated in a dignified and caring manner at all times. The Association will agree all handling procedures for cremation and burial and members will give details to clients on request.
6. The following cremation services may be offered by a crematorium. It is the Association’s policy that all services termed “cremation” shall encompass respectful procedures for handling and final return, burial or scattering of the ashes.
Individual Cremation : Pets are cremated alone within an enclosed chamber and all ash carefully collected before the next cremation commences. Clients are guaranteed that the ashes they receive or are placed into a memorial garden will be all and only those of their pet.
Communal Cremation : Two or more pets are cremated together with no separation of ashes. The ashes are buried or scattered in licenced locations being either memorial gardens or natural areas.
All members with crematoria carry out individual cremations.
7. If the conditions for a cremation service are not met, where there is no special handling or ashes are sent to other disposal sites, the terms incineration or mass incineration will be used to describe the service. While members may offer this option at their own or some other premises it is not covered by any Association standards and is included in this Code for information only. Pet owners must understand the Association regards this purely as a clean disposal option.
8. All members with cemeteries carry out burials in identifiable plots. Cemetery clients have visiting rights to the graves subject to the conditions of use of the cemetery.
9. Where services are offered through a third party ( e.g. a veterinary surgery ) members will ensure that information is available to the pet owner detailing those services offered. Whilst every effort must be made to supply the third party with this information it must be made clear that it is ultimately the responsibility of that third party to ensure the pet owner is properly informed.
