FTC General Price List Completeness Checker | Private GPL Worksheet

Direct answer and scope

FTC compliance guidance identifies three separate identifying fields for a General Price List: the funeral provider’s identity, the General Price List title, and an effective date. The presence of those details does not prove licensure, ownership, current service availability, or completeness of the document.

The GPL also includes a federal right-of-selection disclosure. It explains that consumers may select only the goods and services they want, subject to the non-declinable basic-services fee and items required by law or by a cemetery or crematory. Whether an item is required in a specific arrangement depends on current written authority and the facts of that arrangement.

The prescribed embalming disclosure explains that embalming is not required by law except in certain special cases. That federal document requirement does not resolve medical questions, public-health requirements, viewing suitability, preservation results, or the legal effect of wording used in a specific document.

A provider offering direct cremation must include the Funeral Rule disclosure that alternative containers are available for direct cremation. Its applicability depends on whether the provider offers direct cremation; the requirement does not establish the provider’s current offerings or the acceptance standards for a particular container.

How to use the official evidence

The FTC Funeral Industry Practices Rule establishes the federal framework. FTC compliance guidance provides the identified GPL fields and categories, while FTC consumer guidance explains the federal rights addressed by the Rule. State law and current cemetery or crematory requirements must be considered through their own applicable written authorities.

The right-of-selection, embalming, and basic-services-fee disclosures address different subjects and should not be treated as interchangeable. The basic-services-fee requirement includes both prescribed disclosure language and the price of that fee. The presence of one does not establish the presence of the other.

The embalming disclosure concerns the federal statement that embalming is not required by law except in certain special cases. Questions about a particular person’s care, public-health rules, viewing conditions, or preservation require current information appropriate to those distinct issues.

Conditional federal fields require confirmation of the underlying offering. The alternative-container disclosure applies when direct cremation is offered, while designated disposition categories apply when they are part of the provider’s offerings. A category should not be characterized as missing until the provider’s offerings and exact current GPL have been confirmed.

Decision framework

Use the cited federal fields as document questions rather than as a conclusion about compliance. For each field, identify whether the relevant wording or category is present, not found, unclear, conditional, or requires follow-up. A missing observation is not a legal finding.

FTC compliance guidance identifies forwarding remains, receiving remains, direct cremation, and immediate burial as itemized GPL categories when applicable to the provider’s offerings. Conditional applicability must be preserved because a category name alone does not establish that the provider offers the associated service.

The guidance separately identifies the basic services of funeral director and staff, transfer of remains, embalming, and other preparation of the body. A package heading does not establish that every separate category appears. The appearance of a category also does not mean that it was selected, performed, legally required, or separately charged in a particular arrangement.

Four event-related categories are distinct: facilities and staff for viewing, facilities and staff for a funeral ceremony, facilities and staff for a memorial service, and equipment and staff for a graveside service. A listed category does not establish facility availability, event suitability, staffing, religious accommodation, or inclusion in a package.

A private GPL worksheet maps controlled answers to document questions and follow-up states using the cited FTC fields. It cannot inspect a document, identify a provider, verify statements, determine applicability, or issue a compliance or violation verdict.

Separate price-list paths

Transportation information includes hearse and limousine prices. Merchandise information includes casket and outer-burial-container prices or the applicable separate written price-list route. These fields do not indicate that transportation or an outer burial container was selected or legally required.

Individual casket prices may be included on the GPL. If they are not, the Funeral Rule requires a written Casket Price List to be offered before caskets or their prices are shown or discussed. The relevant federal evidence therefore may be found either on the GPL or through the separate written list made available at the applicable point.

Outer-burial-container prices may also appear on the GPL. If those prices are not included there, the Funeral Rule requires a written Outer Burial Container Price List before the containers or their prices are shown. The timing and document path are distinct from whether any particular container was selected.

The separate-list requirement does not establish that an outer burial container is legally required. A cemetery may have its own current requirement, which should be verified directly through current written cemetery information. The federal document rule and a cemetery’s requirement are separate matters.

Limits and what to verify next

Visible document fields are only one part of the relevant inquiry. Provider identity, title, and effective date do not establish licensure, ownership, service availability, or the completeness of the document. Disclosure text and listed prices must be considered as separate fields where FTC guidance treats them separately.

For conditionally applicable categories, confirm the provider’s actual offerings and obtain the exact current GPL. Direct cremation, immediate burial, forwarding remains, and receiving remains should not be characterized as applicable or missing from the category name alone.

For merchandise information, determine whether individual prices appear on the GPL or on the applicable separate written price list. The Casket Price List is relevant when individual casket prices are not on the GPL, and the Outer Burial Container Price List is relevant when those container prices are not on the GPL.

Questions involving state law, a cemetery requirement, a crematory requirement, public health, medical care, or the legal effect of a specific interaction require current written authority suited to that question. The federal rule concerning a retainable GPL at an applicable in-person discussion should remain separate from questions about email, mail, downloads, or online posting.

Evidence behind this page

Each point below is restricted to what the cited primary source supports. Administrative listing status is not a quality endorsement.