Applicants can book the cremation service of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) at its six crematoria starting 1 June 2013 on its webpage (www.fehd.gov.hk).
Applicants who wish to avail themselves of the service should register in advance with the department's Hong Kong or Kowloon Cremation Booking Offices and submit completed application forms (FEHB 135) and the originals of relevant documents (for example, the Certificate of Registration of Death, Cremation Permit, etc) for verification. Each applicant or proxy would be allowed to submit a maximum of five applications at any single time. (Applicants are encouraged to complete the application form and pre-pay the cremation fee through the "Online Cremation Application and Pre-paid System" to shorten the time spent at the application counter of the office.)
An applicant who has successfully registered will be given a token which will be used to book online through the FEHD website an available cremation session within 15 days from the online application day. Immediately after a cremation session has been secured, payment of the cremation fee by credit card, Payment by Phone Service (PPS) or Faster Payment System (FPS) will have to be made (Not applicable to applicants using the "Online Cremation Application and Pre-paid System"). To pay by PPS, applicants must register as PPS users first. For details of registration and use of PPS, please visit the relevant website (http://www.ppshk.com/index_e.html).
With a view to further improving the service, starting from 2 December 2013, applicants can also opt for prepayment of cremation fees at the two Cremation Booking Offices of the FEHD at times of issue of tokens. All prepaid cremation fees are not refundable including the following scenarios –
- Failure to use the online cremation booking service with a token within its validity period of 60 days; or
- Upon expiry of a token, apply for another token afresh and tender payment of the cremation fee again; or
- Apply for cancellation of the token after its issue and prepayment of the cremation fee, and apply for switching back to cremation booking over counters at the Cremation Booking Offices with fresh payment of cremation fee.
The arrangement of giving out a maximum of five chits to each applicant or proxy who can provide the relevant documents will be maintained. Other arrangements and conditions for booking cremation sessions will also remain unchanged. These include provision of cremation sessions within 15 days after the application day and provision of extra sessions to meet the performance pledge.
To further assist the public in using the service, starting from 3 March 2014, the FEHD extends the online cremation booking service hours to 24 hours a day from 9:15 a.m. on Mondays to 12:30 p.m. on Saturdays (except Saturday afternoons, Sundays and Public Holidays). Service hours of the two Cremation Booking Offices of the FEHD remain unchanged.
Both the Cremation Booking Offices and the FEHD webpage would release cremation sessions of the next 15th day as well as those unreleased cremation sessions of the preceding day(s) due to holidays in parallel at 9:15 a.m. on each working day. In addition, the arrangement to provide extra cremation sessions within the office hours of the Cremation Booking Offices would continue.
Please note that in case the service of the Cremation Booking Offices is suspended due to hoisting of the Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal No.8 or above or Black Rainstorm Warning Signal at 9:15 a.m., the online cremation booking service would also be suspended until the Cremation Booking Offices re-open again. The online cremation booking service would continue under other inclement weather conditions.
The application form (FEHB 135) for booking cremation sessions can be downloaded from the FEHD webpage (www.fehd.gov.hk) or is available at the following offices:
Hong Kong Cremation Booking Office:
18/F, Wu Chung House, 213 Queen's Road East, Wan Chai, Hong Kong
Tel: 2572 5286 / 2961 8842
Kowloon Cremation Booking Office:
1/F, Cheung Sha Wan Government Offices, 303 Cheung Sha Wan Road, Kowloon
Tel: 2150 7502