[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 22, Volume 1]
[Revised as of April 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 22CFR72.9]

[Page 351]
 
                       TITLE 22--FOREIGN RELATIONS
 
                     CHAPTER I--DEPARTMENT OF STATE
 
PART 72--DEATHS AND ESTATES--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 72.9  Consular responsibility.

    (a) In the absence of relatives or other interested persons, the 
consular officer should exert all reasonable effort to carry out the 
expressed wishes of the deceased or next of kin as to local burial, 
cremation, or shipment of the remains, taking care that the legal 
requirements of the country are met. However, the consular officer is 
neither authorized nor expected to assume any financial responsibility 
for, or to incur any expense in connection with, the disposition of the 
remains of deceased persons unless specifically instructed to do so by 
the Department. When the next of kin or other interested person cannot 
be reached within the period provided by local law for the interment or 
preservation of dead bodies and sufficient funds can be realized from 
the personal estate of the deceased in the consular officer's 
possession, he should arrange for disposal of the reamins locally and 
draw funds from the estate to cover the costs (see Sec. 72.39; also 
Sec. 72.20 as regards withdrawals from bank accounts). If there are not 
sufficient funds in the estate to cover the costs, and funds are 
unobtainable from relatives or other interested persons, there may be no 
alternative but to accept disposal of the remains by the local 
authorities in accordance with local law or regulations. (See also 
Sec. 72.13 for remains requiring special handling.)
    (b) A consular agent may, upon instructions from his principal 
consular officer, arrange for the disposition of remains of deceased 
United States citizens. His principal consular officer has, in 
accordance with this section to Sec. 72.14, the responsibility for 
reporting to relatives and for complying with the laws of the country in 
which the death occurred as well as the requirements of the United 
States.