[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 40, Volume 22]
[Revised as of July 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 40CFR229.1]

[Page 249]
 
                   TITLE 40--PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENT
 
         CHAPTER I--ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED)
 
PART 229--GENERAL PERMITS--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 229.1  Burial at sea.

    (a) All persons subject to title I of the Act are hereby granted a 
general permit to transport human remains from the United States and all 
persons owning or operating a vessel or aircraft registered in the 
United States or flying the United States flag and all departments, 
agencies, or instrumentalities of the United States are hereby granted a 
general permit to transport human remains from any location for the 
purpose of burial at sea and to bury such remains at sea subject to the 
following conditions:
    (1) Except as herein otherwise provided, human remains shall be 
prepared for burial at sea and shall be buried in accordance with 
accepted practices and requirements as may be deemed appropriate and 
desirable by the United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, or civil 
authority charged with the responsibility for making such arrangements;
    (2) Burial at sea of human remains which are not cremated shall take 
place no closer than 3 nautical miles from land and in water no less 
than one hundred fathoms (six hundred feet) deep and in no less than 
three hundred fathoms (eighteen hundred feet) from (i) 
27 deg.30[min]00[sec] to 31 deg.00[min]00[sec] North Latitude off St. 
Augustine and Cape Canaveral, Florida; (ii) 82 deg.20[min]00[sec] to 
84 deg.00[min]00[sec] West Longitude off Dry Tortugas, Florida; and 
(iii) 87 deg.15[min]00[sec] to 89 deg.50[min]00[sec] West Longitude off 
the Mississippi River Delta, Louisiana, to Pensacola, Florida. All 
necessary measures shall be taken to ensure that the remains sink to the 
bottom rapidly and permanently; and
    (3) Cremated remains shall be buried in or on ocean waters without 
regard to the depth limitations specified in paragraph (a)(2) of this 
section provided that such burial shall take place no closer than 3 
nautical miles from land.
    (b) For purposes of this section and Secs. 229.2 and 229.3, land 
means that portion of the baseline from which the territorial sea is 
measured, as provided for in the Convention on the Territorial Sea and 
the Contiguous Zone, which is in closest proximity to the proposed 
disposal site.
    (c) Flowers and wreaths consisting of materials which are readily 
decomposable in the marine environment may be disposed of under the 
general permit set forth in this section at the site at which disposal 
of human remains is authorized.
    (d) All burials conducted under this general permit shall be 
reported within 30 days to the Regional Administrator of the Region from 
which the vessel carrying the remains departed.