A pet died in Taiwan. The trade is regulated — by three tools and no statute
Taiwan is the most heavily regulated and the most fragmented of the places in this series. Under the Waste Disposal Act a pet's body is waste: article 27(6) expressly forbids discarding an animal carcass anywhere other than a waste storage facility, and since July 2026 the ceiling on that fine has been NT$100,000. Yet what actually governs the trade is a patchwork — the agriculture ministry's farmland conversion rules for pet memorial facilities, licences issued by city governments, and a model consumer contract published in June 2025. No dedicated law, but not an unregulated market either.
Laws change. Everything below was checked against the sources at the foot of this page on the date shown there.
The first hours
Keep the body cool
Lay them on a towel or a training pad in the coolest room you have. Taiwan is hot and humid, and a body changes faster here than in temperate countries. If you cannot deal with it the same day, wrap a cold pack in a towel and place it at the neck and abdomen — never directly against the skin.
Three routes: the municipal collective cremation, a licensed operator, or your vet
City animal protection offices and animal shelters offer collective cremation — cheap, but no ashes come back. Operators holding a local licence offer individual cremation and a ceremony. Veterinary clinics usually refer you on. If you want ashes, only the latter two are open to you.
Bring three things to a municipal cremation
The body sealed in an opaque black bag, your ID, and the pet registration certificate — plus a letter of authorisation if you are not the registered owner. The application and de-registration forms are filled in at the counter. In Taipei the site is the Neihu animal shelter, 10:00–16:00 daily, closed on holidays.
Do not bury the body yourself, and do not put it out with the rubbish
The agriculture ministry's facility rules are blunt: “having regard to sustainable land use, pet memorial services should not be conducted by burial, and should all be carried out by cremation or equivalent means.” And discarding a carcass outside a waste storage facility is an offence under articles 27 and 50 of the Waste Disposal Act, fined from NT$1,200 up to NT$100,000.
What the law actually says
Taiwan has no pet-funeral statute, but it is not a blank. The waste law treats the body as waste; the agriculture ministry treats the facility as land use; consumer protection treats the deal as a contract. Three instruments, each working, with the gap left in the middle.
In law the body is waste, and the article says so by name
Article 27(6) of the Waste Disposal Act prohibits “discarding an animal carcass anywhere other than at a waste storage facility”, and article 50 fines a breach from NT$1,200 to NT$100,000, with orders to fix it and repeat penalties until it is fixed. One correction worth making: a great many Chinese-language articles still quote the old article 2 definition — “rubbish, excreta, animal carcasses and the like” — but that provision has been rewritten to “waste other than industrial waste”. The provision that still names animal carcasses today is article 27(6).
Waste Disposal Act — articles 27(6), 50 (amended 15 July 2026) · 2026-07-15
The official position: burial is discouraged, the facility is built around cremation
The agriculture ministry's rules of 11 July 2023 on converting non-urban land for pet memorial facilities say in their explanatory note that pet memorial services should not be conducted by burial and should all be by cremation or equivalent means. The same rules require a facility to have carcass storage and processing equipment including a cremation furnace, permit ash storage and tree- or scatter-burial areas, and set a minimum site of 0.2 hectares — or 10 hectares on hillsides.
Agriculture ministry — rules on non-urban land for pet memorial facilities (11 July 2023) · 2023-07-11
Operators pass three gates, but there is no island-wide licence
Gate one is land: non-urban land must be re-designated as a special-purpose site and pass the business plan review. Gate two is the local licence: in Taichung, for instance, a pet memorial business needs a permit from the agriculture bureau, and operating without one brings a fine of NT$20,000 to NT$100,000, an order to stop trading, and repeat penalties. Gate three is the contract: the ministry's model terms are there for operators and local governments to adopt. Three gates amount to something close to licensing — but the licensing power sits with cities, not the centre.
Taichung — pet carcass handling and pet memorial business ordinance (amended 24 March 2026) · 2026-03-24
One model contract for the whole country, from June 2025
On 24 June 2025 the agriculture ministry issued model standard terms for pet memorial services, defining the service as collection, cleaning, grooming, cold storage, processing and ash handling, capping the cancellation fee at 5% of the contract price after deducting services actually performed, and requiring terms on the owner collecting the ashes and on what happens when ash storage expires or payments stop. Operators must also help de-register a microchipped pet. The model is for adoption rather than mandatory — but where a city has its own ordinance, such as Taichung, the service contract must be filed for approval.
Agriculture ministry — model standard terms for pet memorial services (24 June 2025) · 2025-06-24
The furnace has an environmental gate too
Taichung's ordinance adds that a facility operating by cremation must meet the stationary-source air pollutant and dioxin emission standards; that bodies must be transported sealed and refrigerated or frozen before cremation; and that the licence, service items, prices and fee schedule must be displayed prominently, with an itemised receipt on request. This is the layer most guides miss: a pet crematorium does not only need the agriculture bureau's nod.
Taichung — pet carcass handling and pet memorial business ordinance (amended 24 March 2026) · 2026-03-24
Where the body can go
Four routes, and one of them has a price published by a government.
Municipal collective cremation
Taipei, for example: NT$350 up to 5 kg, plus NT$70 per additional kilogram (part kilograms counted as whole), and double for non-residents of the city. The site is the Neihu animal shelter, 10:00–16:00 daily. The animal protection office states plainly that it does not offer individual cremation, so no ashes come back.
An operator with a local licence
For individual cremation and ashes you need a commercial operator. Ask for the permit issued by the city authority — Taichung, Taoyuan and Miaoli, among others, have ordinances in force — then insist on the model contract: service items, specifications, price schedule, cancellation and refund, ash collection and what happens when storage expires.
Through your veterinary clinic
Most clinics will contact an operator or arrange collective cremation, which helps when you cannot face the paperwork. Ask where the body goes, whether it is collective or individual, and whether ashes return — the clinic is a referrer, not the provider.
Burying the body yourself
The official position is against it: the ministry's rules require cremation or equivalent, and city ordinances generally make cremation the default. Add land access, water sources and the neighbours' objections, and it is not a practical route; burying on public land may also breach the Waste Disposal Act.
How this is regulated
Four agencies, three instruments, and nobody who owns the trade outright.
The agriculture ministry owns facilities and contracts
Both the non-urban land review rules and the model contract come from the ministry. But it does not issue operator licences and does not inspect individual businesses — those powers sit with cities. That is why central policy reads as complete while unlicensed operators remain common in the market.
Agriculture ministry — model standard terms for pet memorial services (24 June 2025) · 2025-06-24
City animal protection offices are the real licensers
In Taichung the agriculture bureau issues the permit, inspects periodically, and may demand the pet de-registration certificate, the written consumer contract and transaction records; a permit holder must start trading within six months or lose the permit. Breaches can be penalised repeatedly. This is the layer closest to a genuine licensing regime anywhere in Taiwan.
Taichung — pet carcass handling and pet memorial business ordinance (amended 24 March 2026) · 2026-03-24
Environmental agencies regulate the furnace, not the people
Air pollutant and dioxin standards for cremation plant are environmental law, and the Waste Disposal Act penalties are enforced by environmental agencies. So one business can face an agriculture bureau licence inspection and an environmental bureau emissions inspection, with no authority over the other.
Waste Disposal Act — articles 27(6), 50 (amended 15 July 2026) · 2026-07-15
Consumer protection is the last line
The model contract deals with price and refund; Taichung and others go further, requiring the service contract to be approved and the price list displayed. If you meet opaque pricing or a mid-service surcharge, this is the instrument that actually helps you — more often than the question of whether a licence exists.
Agriculture ministry — model standard terms for pet memorial services (24 June 2025) · 2025-06-24
On private companies
Businesses in this sector are ordinary commercial services, and engaging one is lawful. No agency here publishes an approved list of providers, and none has vetted their standards. Because of that, this page does not list, rank or recommend any of them, and does not reproduce their addresses, phone numbers or prices — a list on a page like this one would read as an endorsement we are in no position to give. The public contacts below are the ones worth using.
Public resources
- Waste Disposal Act (amended 15 July 2026)Article 27(6) on discarding carcasses and article 50 on penalties are the provisions cited here.
- Agriculture ministry — rules on converting non-urban land for pet memorial facilitiesOrder 1120042540 of 11 July 2023, as published (PDF) by Miaoli county government.
- Taichung — pet carcass handling and pet memorial business ordinanceAmended 24 March 2026. Permits, inspections, penalties, emissions standards and price disclosure all sit in this ordinance.
- Agriculture ministry — model standard terms for pet memorial services (24 June 2025)Service items, the 5% cap on cancellation fees, ash collection and expiry, and help with de-registration.
- Taipei animal protection office — commissioned pet carcass cremationSite, hours, documents and fees for collective cremation; the page also states individual cremation is not offered.
Frequently asked questions
Can I bury my pet in the garden?
The official position is against it. The agriculture ministry's facility rules state that pet memorial services should not be conducted by burial and should all be by cremation or equivalent means, and city ordinances generally make cremation the default. Land access, water sources and neighbours add further obstacles, and burying on public land may breach the Waste Disposal Act.
What is the fine for dumping a body?
Under articles 27(6) and 50 of the Waste Disposal Act, NT$1,200 to NT$100,000, with an order to remedy and repeat penalties if you do not. The ceiling rose from NT$6,000 to NT$100,000 in the amendment of 15 July 2026.
Do pet funeral operators need a licence?
There is no island-wide licence. To operate lawfully you pass three gates: land re-designation and business plan review under the ministry's rules, a permit from the city authority (Taichung and others), and a contract on the model terms. In Taichung, operating without a permit brings NT$20,000 to NT$100,000 and an order to stop trading.
How much is collective cremation in Taipei, and can I get the ashes?
NT$350 up to 5 kg plus NT$70 per extra kilogram, doubled for non-residents; the site is the Neihu animal shelter, 10:00–16:00 daily. The animal protection office does not offer individual cremation, so collective cremation returns no ashes — for ashes you need a private operator.
What should I check in the contract?
Use the ministry's model terms as your checklist: every service itemised (collection, cleaning, grooming, cold storage, processing, ash handling), the price schedule attached, cancellation deducting actual costs with a fee capped at 5% of the contract price, and explicit terms on collecting the ashes and on what happens when storage expires.
Why did regulation only start recently?
Three things happened separately: the facility land rules in July 2023 gave operators a route to legality; the model contract in June 2025 dealt with fees and refunds; and city ordinances — Taichung, Taoyuan, Miaoli and others — are the layer that actually issues permits. Put the three together and it resembles a system; take one away and a whole segment falls through.
Sources
- Waste Disposal Act — articles 27(6), 50 (amended 15 July 2026)2026-07-15
- Agriculture ministry — rules on non-urban land for pet memorial facilities (11 July 2023)2023-07-11
- Taichung — pet carcass handling and pet memorial business ordinance (amended 24 March 2026)2026-03-24
- Agriculture ministry — model standard terms for pet memorial services (24 June 2025)2025-06-24
- Taipei animal protection office — commissioned pet carcass cremation service2026-10-24
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This page is general information about local law and public services. It is not legal advice and not a recommendation of any business. Local rules vary and change; check with the authority named in the sources before you act. We do not operate any service mentioned here and we accept no payment from anyone in this trade.
Last checked: 2026-10-24 · If something here is wrong or out of date, tell us — we date every correction instead of quietly editing it.