Cremation services can now be offered in Malta after the relevant law came into force on Tuesday.

Labour MP Rosianne Cutajar, who spearheaded the move to introduce cremation, said in a tweet she was “honoured” to announce that her first Bill was now law.

“I thank all those who supported my vision and look forward to seeing its implementation in the coming months,” she said.

Malta had so far not allowed any form of human cremation, despite repeated calls for alternatives to traditional burial.

The new law will not only introduce a burial alternative but also allow people the flexibility to decide what to do with the ashes. Each crematorium will have a mortuary, a viewing room, adequate facilities for the extraction of implants from the body, a cremation room and a storage room for remains.

Read: No public scattering of ashes: cremation law details announced

Health Minister Chris Fearne said that, prior to the new law’s adoption, Malta had been the only country in Europe that did not have a law on cremation.

There were a few requests for burial at sea every so often and every request for cremation had to be executed in a foreign country. Under the new law, those found guilty of running an illegal crematorium face a prison term of between three and five years and a fine of between €10,000 and €30,000. A national registry will be set up to record people’s wishes on whether they want to be cremated.

I thank all those who supported my vision

The road to cremation has been a long one.

In 2014, the government had put forward a number of other suggestions including freeze-drying bodily remains using liquid nitrogen and the introduction of a conventional crematorium.

Dissolving corpses in chemical baths was among the solutions being considered to address the island’s overcrowded cemeteries. Known as alkaline hydrolysis, this method was announced as a possible funeral choice during public consultation on the planning authority’s new cemetery policy.

Then, in 2015, the planning authority published a policy on cemeteries and, in November 2017, a debate at parliamentary committee level ensued.

Ms Cutajar said research indicated that a third of Maltese would consider an alternative to traditional burials.

She was “proud” that the reform had finally been translated into law.

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