22 C.F.R. § 72.9 Consular responsibility.
Title 22 - Foreign Relations
(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 §72.39; also §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 §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 §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.
Title 22: Foreign Relations
PART 72—DEATHS AND ESTATES
Disposition of Remains
§ 72.9 Consular responsibility.
