(1) The funeral director who first assumes custody of a dead body or fetus must obtain a burial-transit permit before final disposition and within 5 days after death. The funeral director shall provide the electronic burial-transit permit generated from the electronic death registration system, or a manually produced permit, to the person in charge of the place of final disposition.
(2) A burial-transit permit shall be issued by the department or the local registrar or subregistrar of the registration district in which the death occurred or the body was found. A burial-transit permit may not be issued:(a) Until a complete and satisfactory certificate of death or fetal death is filed in accordance with the requirements of this chapter and adopted rules, unless the funeral director provides adequate assurance that a complete and satisfactory certificate will be so registered.
(b) Except under conditions prescribed by the department, if the death occurred from some disease that is deemed by the department to be infectious, contagious, or communicable and dangerous to the public health.
(3) The funeral director shall deliver the burial-transit permit to the person in charge of the place of final disposition, before interring or otherwise disposing of the dead body or fetus within this state; or when transported to a point outside the state, the permit shall accompany the dead body or fetus to its destination.
(4) A burial-transit permit issued under the law of another state or country, or a certification of a death certificate issued under the law of a state or country that does not issue burial-transit permits, which accompanies a dead body or fetus brought into this state shall be authority for final disposition of the dead body or fetus in this state.
(5) Rules of the department may provide for the issuance of a burial-transit permit prior to the filing of a certificate of death or fetal death upon conditions designed to assure compliance with the purposes of this chapter in cases in which compliance with the requirement that the certificate be filed prior to the issuance of the permit would result in undue hardship.
(6) For manually filed paper death records, the subregistrar in the licensed funeral or direct disposal establishment is responsible for producing and maintaining death and fetal death certificates and burial-transit permits in accordance with this chapter.
(7) The department may adopt rules to implement this section.
