Too-lenient rules for private columbariums expose consumers to exploitation

While public attention has been rightly absorbed by the ongoing strife over electoral reform, it would do well to keep one eye on the government's long-overdue efforts to regulate private columbariums as the Legislative Council has recently started scrutinising the bill introduced in June. After all, the legislation will affect where many of us will "occupy" long past our lifespan.

I have guided the development of several private columbariums, and the experience has given me an appreciation of the urgent need for industry regulation to boost transparency and consumer confidence in private columbariums. Ultimately, this can spur investment and increase supply to meet long-term demand.

The most controversial and confusing aspect of the bill revolves around the proposed exemptions for all the so-called "pre-bill" private columbariums, which would potentially be given up to six years to upgrade their facilities to meet all the requirements. They will be granted a "temporary suspension of liability" to continue operations but are prohibited from selling new interment rights until they have become properly licensed.

Whenever new regulatory regimes are put in place, exemptions are often needed to avoid widespread upheavals in the marketplace. Yet, the terms should not be so lenient that operators can drag their heels in bringing their facilities up to standard. Worse, some operators with no hope or intention of becoming licensed may try to pull a fast one over unsuspecting consumers.

More fundamentally, exemptions can only work properly if the government knows who is out there to exempt. In other words, it must have in hand an exhaustive list of operators, especially those that are non-compliant. Unfortunately, this is not the case. When the Private Columbaria Bill was first released, the government launched a voluntary "notification scheme" whereby operators were asked to provide basic details about their facilities and promise not to sell any more interment rights until they have been licensed, if ever.

As can be expected, unscrupulous operators with little incentive to upgrade their facilities have been taking full advantage of this period of regulatory limbo by telling prospective customers that prices will go up when regulation comes into effect, thereby enticing them to put down their money now. Instead of reining in fraudulent practices to help build consumer confidence, the government's path to regulation has ended up putting at risk those grieving for the loss of loved ones.