EUGO - EU Services Directive

Licensing covers a whole spectrum of controls which have been imposed by Parliament over many years.  These can be accessed from the licencing section of the website. The underlying purpose of Local Authority licensing is protection of people, animals or the environment.

Some licensing is really just a simple registration system (e.g. Scrap Metal Dealing). Some comprise more elaborate registration systems (e.g. Street Collection Permits and Societies Lotteries) where the issue of the permit is not the end of the process. The word "licence" is used to include licence, permit, registration and notice.

Some licensing relates to animal welfare (e.g. riding establishment permits) where establishing proper welfare conditions is a pre-condition of grant.

Other types of licensing involve consideration a range of policy considerations and often complex interactions between applicants and the public (e.g. Taxi Licensing, Alcohol/Entertainment Licensing and Gambling Licensing).

It follows from the above that the process of licensing can vary from a straight application and grant (two transactions) to a range of interactions over a period of months leading to a grant (or conditional grant) or refusal of an application - the latter two giving rights of appeal.

For all but the simplest type of licence the application process involves contact with a range of internal departments (mainly planning, highways and environmental officers) and external agencies (mainly police and fire authorities) together with other disciplines (e.g. Vets).

Charges for licences are equally variable. Some charges are set by the Council, some by central government, and some can’t be charged for.

The E U Services Directive (Directive 2006/123/EC) ("the directive")

The directive came into force on 28th December 2009. The directive covers a number of the licences and permits issued by the Council.

The directive introduces tacit authorisation for certain categories of licences, permits and registrations. Tacit authorisation is the period of time for determining an application.  If the application is not granted within this period of time the licence, permit or registration is deemed to be granted.