ACS

14 July 2010

The Lords Grand Committee has agreed to pass new rules to help licensees in the event of a licence holder’s death and to simplify the processes of the Licensing Act.

House of Lords frontbencher Baroness Rawlings explained that the new rules were agreed by the last Government to simplify the licensing act on condition of a consultation process. She also said that she will continue to “look to deregulate and where possible reduce burdens on licencees.”

The most significant change regards interim authority notices. When a licence holder dies or becomes incapacitated, the new licencee must apply for an interim authority notice (IAN) to continue trading. The Grand Committee has agreed that the notice period for applying for an IAN should be extended from 7 days to 28 days.

Other rule changes include an extension on the period in which a licence can be transferred to another individual after death from 7 days to 28 days, an extension on the period in which an IAN lasts from two months to three months and extensions on the period in which police can object to IANs and temporary event notices.

ACS Chief Executive James Lowman said: “We welcome the simplifications put forward in the Lords, but Government still needs to do more to reduce the burden of the Licensing Act.”