FTC Pushes to Extend Data Collection on Funeral Home Practices
Published Date: 1/26/2026
Notice
Summary
The Federal Trade Commission wants to keep collecting info under its Funeral Rule for three more years, helping protect people buying funeral services. This affects funeral businesses, who spend time and money following the rules. You’ve got until March 27, 2026, to share your thoughts before the extension is approved.
Analyzed Economic Effects
6 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 5 costs, 0 mixed.
Continued price-disclosure obligations
If you run a funeral home, the Funeral Rule requires you to give consumers a General Price List, show a Casket Price List and Outer Burial Container Price List at the start of any discussion of those items (and before showing them), provide price information by telephone, and give a written Statement of Funeral Goods and Services Selected after arranging services. The Rule also requires you to keep copies of price lists and the statements for one year.
Estimated annual industry cost burden
The FTC estimates the Funeral Rule information-collection tasks impose 152,305 hours of burden annually, with estimated annual labor costs of $5,067,797 and estimated annual non-labor costs of $829,974. The estimate is based on about 15,401 funeral providers and 3,279,857 funerals per year.
Telephone price-disclosure time burden
The Rule requires funeral providers to give price information in response to telephone inquiries. The FTC estimates about 12% of purchasers call, resulting in 65,597 hours of annual burden and $2,703,252 in labor costs industry-wide (based on 3,279,857 funerals per year).
Consumer price transparency benefit
The Funeral Rule ensures that consumers buying funeral goods and services have access to accurate, itemized price information so they can purchase only the funeral goods and services they want or need. This applies when arranging funeral services and when consumers request price information by phone.
One-year record retention burden
Funeral providers must retain copies of price lists and Statements of Funeral Goods and Services Selected for one year. The FTC estimates this will take about 1 hour per provider per year, totaling 15,401 hours and an estimated $254,271 in labor costs industry-wide.
Printing cost for General Price Lists
Funeral providers must give one copy of the General Price List to consumers for each funeral arrangement. The FTC estimates 3,279,857 copies per year at $0.25 per copy, for an industry printing cost of $819,964, plus an additional $10,010 for small providers' final statements, totaling $829,974 in annual non-labor costs.
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Key Dates
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