Terms of Use

Please read these Terms of Use carefully and ensure that you understand them. Your agreement to comply with and be bound by these Terms of Use is deemed to occur upon your first visit or sign-in to this Website. If you do not agree to comply with and be bound by these Terms of Use, you must stop using the Website immediately.

We may make changes to these Terms of Use at any time. Any such changes will become binding on you upon your first visit or sign in to the Website after the changes have been made. You are therefore advised to check this page from time to time.

1. Definitions

'Funeral Sector Register' is the name of the register of Relevant Bodies on the Website.

'Relevant Body' means burial authorities, cremation authorities, funeral directors and or any other parties designated as being a "relevant body" under the Regulations.

'Registration' refers to the registration of a Relevant Body on the Funeral Sector Register through the Website.

'Regulations' refers to The Burial and Cremation (Inspection) (Scotland) Regulations 2025 or replacement or succeeding legislation from time to time.

'ScotAccount' is the name for the individual digital identity services provided by the Scottish Government.

'Verify Your Identity' means the ScotAccount Service which enables you to confirm your identity to our service provider using official documentation (your passport, UK driving licence or UK biometric residence permit).

'Website' refers to this website including the Funeral Sector Register and through which you can submit a Registration after you Verify Your Identity with ScotAccount.

2. Information about us

The Website is provided by the Scottish Government. Our legal identity is 'Scottish Ministers'.

3. Our obligations to you

We will provide access to the Website in accordance with these Terms of Use.

We try to ensure that your use of the Website is uninterrupted, and that information transmitted within the Website is free of errors. However, due to external factors, this cannot be guaranteed. Access to the Website may also be suspended or restricted for a period to allow for repairs, maintenance or the introduction of new services or functionality from time to time. We shall try to limit the number and length of such periods as much as possible.

While we make every effort to maintain the accuracy of the information on this Website, we disclaim any warranty or representation, express or implied, about accuracy, completeness or appropriateness for a particular purpose. It is the responsibility of the Relevant Bodies to ensure that the information contained on the Funeral Sector Register is correct and is kept up to date.

4. Personal data & privacy

We respect your privacy, and we are committed to protecting your personal data. We provide you with information about how we collect, process and protect your personal data in our Privacy Notice.

The Website contains a link to ScotAccount to verify your identity and to ensure that you can securely access our services, namely the Registration of Relevant Bodies.

We will only collect personal data about you which is required in connection with the administration of your Registration and the verification of your identity in your ScotAccount. In order to verify your identity, we will share information about you with certain third parties and match the information you provide against data held by those third parties.

These third parties include:

• ePass
• ScotAccount

During verification of your identity in ScotAccount, you will be assigned a unique number. If your identity is successfully verified, this number is disclosed to ePass and ScotAccount together with confirmation that your identity has been successfully verified to allow you to be able to submit a Registration.

If you do not supply all of the required information and documents to ScotAccount, or their authenticity cannot be sufficiently verified, we will not be able to sufficiently confirm your identity. If we cannot confirm your identity, we may be unable to provide you with access to the Funeral Sector Register or to submit or amend a Registration.

Once your identity has been verified using your ScotAccount, Relevant Bodies will be able to access the Funeral Sector Register. Here you will be able to submit information about your Relevant Body as is prescribed in the Regulations as part of the Registration process. If you choose to upload or share data, you must make sure you have the necessary rights to do so and that the content is appropriate, accurate and lawful.

If you choose not to share some data on ScotAccount, this may result in us being unable to Verify Your Identity and you will be unable to complete the Registration process for your Relevant Body.

Where we or one of our services providers such as ePass reasonably suspect suspicious activity in relation to the submission of your Registration or access to the Website, we reserve the right to report such suspicious activity to any appropriate agency or regulatory body. Where relevant, our service providers also reserve this right.

5. Your use of the Website

You will require to have a ScotAccount to be able to Verify Your Identity and allow you to access the Website to submit a Registration. You agree to comply with the ScotAccount Terms of Use to the extent applicable to your use of the Website.

Once your ScotAccount has been created you will be able to sign in using the applicable authentication process. On verification, and upon registration you will have the option to manage information about yourself in your ScotAccount and to access the Website to submit or update a Registration.

If the ScotAccount registration process results in no confirmation and/or no verification, your application will be rejected and you will not be able to access the Website to submit a Registration.

We have the sole authority and discretion to reject your Registration if your application shows a significant risk of fraudulent information or activities.

It is important that you use your ScotAccount and the Website securely to prevent our services from being used improperly.

By agreeing to these Terms of Use, you agree to:

• keep your account details secure;
• not divulge your password or login details to any third parties;
• sign out of any shared computer after you are finished using the Website to submit or amend your Registration; and
• use your account for personal use only – your account is not transferable.

Improper use of the Website, including attempted fraudulent use, will lead to your ScotAccount, your Funeral Sector Register account or your Registration being removed, disabled or revoked.

If you think your ScotAccount, your Registration or otherwise your access to the Website has been compromised and someone has accessed your ScotAccount, your Registration or your access to the Website, you can report this to [email protected] and ask them to investigate.

6. Limitations of use

You may use the Website and any access granted to the Register for lawful purposes only. You must not use the Website and any access granted to the Register in any way that causes, or is likely to cause, the Website or access to it to be damaged or interrupted in any way.

You must not use the Website or any access granted to the Funeral Sector Register for any of these reasons:

• to transmit any material that is unlawful, harassing, libellous, defamatory, racially offensive, abusive, threatening, harmful, vulgar, obscene or otherwise objectionable.
• to collect any data or attempt to decipher any transmissions to or from the servers running the Funeral Sector Register.
• in a way that could damage, disable, overburden, impair or compromise our systems or security.
• in a way that interferes with other users.
• in any unlawful or fraudulent manner or for any unlawful or fraudulent purpose.
• in a manner that is improper use or inconsistent with these Terms of Use.
• to gain or attempt to gain unauthorised access to the Funeral Sector Register platform, the server on which the platform is stored or any server, computer or database connected to the Funeral Sector Register platform, by hacking or other means.
• to transmit, send or upload any data that contains viruses, Trojan horses, worms, spyware or any other harmful code or programs designed to adversely affect the operation of computer software or hardware in connection with any kind of denial of service attack or for any malicious purpose with someone else's registered details, unless you have the express prior written authority to do so from them.

7. Our liability to you

The Website is provided "as is" and we exclude all liability arising from or in relation to your use of or access to the Website and your use of the Register to the extent permitted by law. In no circumstances shall our liability to you under or in relation to the Terms of Use exceed ONE HUNDRED POUNDS (£100) STERLING.

Despite the foregoing, we are not attempting to exclude or limit any liability that we cannot limit or exclude under the laws of Scotland including (without limitation) liability for death or personal injury arising from our negligence, fraud or breach of statutory duty.

The Funeral Sector Register is a register of Relevant Bodies. We cannot control and therefore have no liability for any third-party service that you may access using the Funeral Sector Register including those provided by our service providers (such as ePass) or by any Relevant Body.

8. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify us against all claims, damages and expenses arising out of any breach by you of these Terms of Use, and any other liability arising out of your use of this Website or Registration.

9. Cancellation - Removal of Registration

You can remove or de-activate your Registration at any time by signing into your Registration and making the appropriate changes.

We reserve the right to suspend or delete your Registration if:

• you materially or repeatedly breach these Terms of Use;
• there is reason to believe or suspect that any information, verification and/or validation provided is no longer correct, or has been faulty, false or fraudulent;
• we are required to do so in compliance with a legal requirement or a court order; or
• we reasonably believe that your conduct causes harm or liability to us, another user or third party — for example, by hacking, phishing, harassing, spamming, misleading others, or scraping content;

If you believe your Registration has been suspended or deleted in error, you can contact [email protected]

We may take action to enforce these Terms of Use and take other action as appropriate where we have suffered loss. We have the right to refer any fraudulent or otherwise illegal activity, as well as any activities which reasonably raise suspicion of any such illegal activity, to the relevant authorities.

We may at our discretion amend the Website at any time without liability to you. We will endeavour to give you as much notice as we can, however this may not always be possible.

In the event that your ScotAccount or Registration is de-activated for any reason, we shall remove your Registration and all personal data except if, and to the extent that, we are required to keep relevant records for compliance purposes in accordance with applicable law (including without limitation, the Regulations) and our Privacy Notice.

10. General

The Terms of Use are governed by the laws of Scotland and the Scottish Courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction.

11. Additional information

Any Registrations of a Relevant Body must be made by the person legally responsible for the Relevant Body.

If a Registration is completed on behalf of a Relevant Body that is a partnership, they must be a partner in the said partnership. If it is completed on behalf of a company, they must be the company secretary, a director of the company or an officer of the company specifically authorised to submit the Registration.

Accuracy of information

The information provided to us including in any Registration must be truthful, accurate and complete. A Registration may be rejected if it is incomplete, misleading.