{"data":{"id":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-59-59-396.2","jurisdiction":"us-ok","citation":"Okla. Stat. tit. 59, § 59-396.2","heading":"Definitions","body":"As used in the Funeral Services Licensing Act:\n\n1. \"Embalmer\" means a person who disinfects or preserves dead\n\nhuman remains, entire or in part, by the use of chemical substances,\n\nfluids or gases in the remains, or by the introduction of same into\n\nthe remains by vascular or hypodermic injection, or by direct\n\napplication into organs or cavities;\n\n2. \"Funeral director\" means a person who:\n\na. is engaged in or conducts or represents themselves as\n\nbeing engaged in preparing for the burial or disposal\n\nand directing and supervising the burial or disposal\n\nof dead human remains,\n\nb. is engaged in or conducts or represents themselves as\n\nbeing engaged in maintaining a funeral establishment\n\nfor the preparation and the disposition, or for the\n\ncare of dead human remains,\n\nc. uses, in connection with the name of the person or\n\nfuneral establishment, the words \"funeral director\" or\n\n\"undertaker\" or \"mortician\" or any other title\n\nimplying that the person is engaged as a funeral\n\ndirector,\n\nd. sells funeral service merchandise to the public, or\n\ne. is responsible for the legal and ethical operation of\n\na crematory;\n\n3. \"Funeral establishment\" means a place of business used in\n\nthe care and preparation for burial, commercial embalming, or\n\ntransportation of dead human remains, or any place where any person\n\nor persons shall hold forth and be engaged in the profession of\n\nundertaking or funeral directing;\n\n4. \"Apprentice\" means a person who is engaged in learning the\n\npractice of embalming or the practice of funeral directing, as the\n\ncase may be, under the instruction and personal supervision of a\n\nduly licensed embalmer or a duly licensed funeral director of and in\n\nthe State of Oklahoma, pursuant to the provisions of the Funeral\n\nServices Licensing Act, and who is duly registered as such with said\n\nBoard;\n\n5. \"Board\" means the Oklahoma Funeral Board;\n\n6. \"Directing a funeral\" or \"funeral directing\" means directing\n\nfuneral services from the time of the first call until final\n\ndisposition or release to a common carrier or release to next of kin\n\nof the deceased or the designee of the next of kin;\n\n7. \"First call\" means the beginning of the relationship and\n\nduty of the funeral director to take charge of dead human remains\n\nand have such remains prepared by embalming, cremation, or\n\notherwise, for burial or disposition, provided all laws pertaining\n\nto public health in this state are complied with. First call does\n\nnot include calls made by ambulance, when the person dispatching the\n\nambulance does not know whether or not dead human remains are to be\n\npicked up;\n\n8. \"Personal supervision\" means the physical presence of a\n\nlicensed funeral director or embalmer at the specified time and\n\nplace of the providing of acts of funeral service;\n\n9. \"Commercial embalming establishment\" means a fixed place of\n\nbusiness consisting of an equipped preparation room, and other rooms\n\nas necessary, for the specified purpose of performing preparation\n\nand shipping services of dead human remains to funeral\n\nestablishments inside and outside this state;\n\n10. \"Funeral service merchandise or funeral services\" means\n\nthose products and services normally provided by funeral\n\nestablishments and required to be listed on the General Price List\n\nof the Federal Trade Commission, 15 U.S.C., Section 57a(a),\n\nincluding, but not limited to, the sale of burial supplies and\n\nequipment, but excluding the sale by a cemetery of lands or\n\ninterests therein, services incidental thereto, markers, memorials,\n\nmonuments, equipment, crypts, niches or outer enclosures;\n\n11. \"Outer enclosure\" means a grave liner, grave box, or grave\n\nvault;\n\n12. \"Funeral director in charge\" means an individual licensed\n\nas both a funeral director and embalmer designated by a funeral\n\nservice establishment, commercial embalming establishment, or\n\ncrematory who is responsible for the legal and ethical operation of\nemorials,\n\nmonuments, equipment, crypts, niches or outer enclosures;\n\n11. \"Outer enclosure\" means a grave liner, grave box, or grave\n\nvault;\n\n12. \"Funeral director in charge\" means an individual licensed\n\nas both a funeral director and embalmer designated by a funeral\n\nservice establishment, commercial embalming establishment, or\n\ncrematory who is responsible for the legal and ethical operation of\n\nthe establishment and is accountable to the Board;\n\n13. \"Authorizing agent\" means a person legally entitled to\n\norder the cremation or final disposition of particular human remains\n\npursuant to Section 1151 or 1158 of Title 21 of the Oklahoma\n\nStatutes;\n\n14. \"Cremation\" means the technical process, using heat and\n\nflame, or heat and pressure, that reduces human remains to essential\n\nelements, including bone fragments. The reduction takes place\n\nthrough heat and evaporation. Cremation shall include, but not be\n\nlimited to, the processing and pulverization of the bone fragments,\n\nor through alkaline hydrolysis;\n\n15. \"Crematory\" means a structure containing a furnace or\n\nalkaline hydrolysis vessel used or intended to be used for the\n\ncremation of human remains. The term includes a facility that\n\ncremates human remains through alkaline hydrolysis; and\n\n16. \"Alkaline hydrolysis\" means the reduction of human remains\n\nto bone fragments and essential elements in a licensed crematory\n\nusing heat, pressure, water and base chemical agents.","path":["OK Code","Title 59"],"source_url":"https://www.oklegislature.gov/OK_Statutes/CompleteTitles/os59.pdf","current_through":"2026-08-14","vintage":"open-us-law v2026.08, retrieved 2026-09-14","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14T18:32:36Z","sha256":"c4ae94bda4dd58a39217e40843d8244f5aed462149ce7dfe8619ab60cdd3e016","source_id":"us-ok","stale":false,"prev":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-59-59-396.1c","next":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-59-59-396.20"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}