Commentary on Sections Exhumation Section 30 – Exhumation register
88.Section 30 requires each burial authority to prepare and maintain a register of exhumations for each burial ground for which it is the burial authority.
89.Additionally, subsection (2) requires each local authority to prepare and maintain a register of exhumations of human remains which were buried in a place other than a burial ground following authorisation by the local authority under section 22(3).
90.Both registers must contain information prescribed by regulations made by the Scottish Ministers under this section. Subsection (4) allows the Scottish Ministers to make regulations to set out the form of the exhumation register and how it must be kept, as well as other provisions.
91.The exhumation register is to be a public document and is to be kept indefinitely. Both burial authorities and local authorities must provide access to registers, and may impose a reasonable charge for doing so. Where a burial authority or local authority chooses to charge for access, it must determine what the charge should be. Similarly, a burial authority or local authority may provide extracts from the register for a reasonable charge. Subsection (8) establishes that any such extract from the register certified as a true copy by the cremation authority is sufficient evidence of the cremation for the purpose of any court proceedings.