By YOURI KEMP

and NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Reporters

A 150 year-old law is preventing government regulators from acting against unscrupulous cemetery owners who arbitrarily hike prices previously agreed for graves and burial plots.

Dion Foulkes, minister of labour and transport, wrote in the Consumer Protection Commission’s 2020 annual report that existing legislation means it cannot protect Bahamian families from such practices.

“I am advised that the Burial Grounds Act 1869 is an impediment to staff being able to effectively address complaints against cemeteries,” Senator Foulkes wrote. “I will therefore seek the assistance and input of Cabinet in bringing modern legislation to Parliament to effectively regulate the private cemeteries and funeral services providers industry in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.”

It is unclear whether any progress has been made to-date in developing such legislation, and/or where it sits in terms of the timeline for bringing it to Parliament. However, Philip J Beneby, the Consumer Protection Commission’s chairman, confirmed to Tribune Business the the Burial Grounds Act is a 19th century law that provides no legal remedy for consumers aggrieved by cemetery owners.

“One of the complaints from consumers we have run into is that they didn’t have contracts with the cemetery owners,” Mr Beneby said. “All of the cemeteries we checked with didn’t have copies of the contract either. So we were looking at if we could force them to provide copies of the contract with the Act, and we could make an intervention for the consumer.

“However, we discovered that the laws go back to the 19th century, so it is not quite appropriate to be able to adjudicate the matter with respect to that legislative framework and be able to assist the customer.”

Mr Beneby said one frequent complaint centred around the rates cemetery owners charge families for burial plots. He added that a price would be agreed, with the sum to be paid in installments over a period of time. The family would start paying, only for the cemetery owner to suddenly turn around and demand more money on the basis that market demand has increased.

The Consumer Protection chief explained: “We have had customers who would have made arrangements with the cemetery company to pay for the plot over a period of time. Now they would have paid for a year, and then the cemetery owner would adjust the balances outstanding based on market trends or market value.

“So if a customer has a plot valued at $3,000 and they have paid $1,000, they [the cemetery owner] can adjust the rate the following year and customers can end up owing $2,500 more. These are the kinds of contracts cemetery companies use.”

The Burial Grounds Act has no provisions for consumer protection. Neither does it lay out any penalty schedule for cemetery owners in the event a consumer has a grievance against them. “Basically, the legislation does not have any penalties in it,” Mr Beneby said.

He added that cemeteries are among several “unregulated” industries, and said: “One of the things that we need to do is implement legislation for these things. You don’t have the legal framework to assist the customer until that is done.”

Elsewhere, Mr Foulkes voiced concern that the commission is receiving increasing complaints from tourists. While these are still relatively small in volume, the minister warned that unscrupulous business practices that take advantage of visitors had the potential to undermine the tourism industry’s recovery post-COVID-19.

“I note with interest the increase in formal complaints being lodged with the commission by visitors to our shores,” he wrote. “Indeed, of the five open cases for this reporting year, four of them involve tourists. This is a matter of grave concern as tourist complaints have the potential to undermine the international reputation of our country and negatively impact our tourism industry.

“As minister it is important to me, therefore, that the commission has the resources, human and otherwise, and the co-operation of other government agencies and ministries in investigating and resolving all of its complaints, those made by foreigners and Bahamians alike.”