[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 36, Volume 1]
[Revised as of July 1, 2001]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 36CFR12.5]

[Page 173]
 
              TITLE 36--PARKS, FORESTS, AND PUBLIC PROPERTY
 
      CHAPTER I--NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
 
PART 12--NATIONAL CEMETERY REGULATIONS--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 12.5  Interments.

    (a) Who may be interred. A person's eligibility for burial in a 
national cemetery is determined in accordance with the provisions of 
Federal statutory law. Interments are conducted in accordance with NPS 
policy and VA Policy.
    (b) Burial permit. (1) A burial permit is required in accordance 
with the laws and regulations of the State and local municipality within 
whose boundaries the cemetery is located.
    (2) The remains of a member of the Armed Forces who dies on active 
duty may be interred prior to receipt of a burial permit.
    (3) The superintendent shall process a burial permit in accordance 
with VA Policy.
    (c) Gravesite assignment. (1) Gravesite assignment and allotment are 
made according to VA Policy which specifies that only one gravesite is 
authorized for the burial of an eligible member of the Armed Forces and 
eligible immediate family members. Exceptions to this practice may be 
approved only by the Director.
    (2) The superintendent is responsible for the actual assignment of a 
gravesite.
    (3) The superintendent may not accept a new gravesite reservation. A 
gravesite reservation granted in writing prior to the adoption of the 
one-gravesite-per-family-unit restriction shall be honored as long as 
the person remains eligible.
    (d) Burial sections. (1) The superintendent of each national 
cemetery shall develop an interment plan for burial sections in keeping 
with the historic character of the national cemetery, to be approved by 
the Regional Director.
    (2) The superintendent shall specify gravesite dimensions that 
conform to the historic design of the national cemetery.
    (3) Expansion of a burial section is prohibited without the approval 
of the Regional Director.
    (4) An interment is authorized only within a burial section; the 
superintendent may not authorize an interment within a memorial section.
    (5) Cremated remains may be scattered in a national cemetery in 
conformance with the provisions of Sec. 2.62 of this chapter and 
applicable State laws.
    (6) Expansion of a national cemetery outside the confines of its 
historic enclosure is prohibited.