EXPLORE ABERDEEN

Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005

The Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 received Royal Assent on 21 December 2005, and reforms the current legislation which dates back to the 1970s.

The aim of the new legislation is to:

  • Simplify and modernise the existing legislation (the Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976, and the relevant parts of the Law Reform (Misc. Provisions) (Scot.) Act 1990;
  • Balance the rights of the majority of people who drink responsibly against the need to protect local communities from nuisance and crime associated with misuse of alcohol;
  • Provide strong monitoring and enforcement powers;
  • Establish a more inclusive system for all those with an interest;
  • Support responsible members of the licensed trade; and
  • Allow local flexibility balanced with consistency of decision making.

Licensing Objectives

The Act sets out 5 high level “licensing objectives.” These represent the principles on which the new licensing system is based, and provide Licensing Boards with a solid foundation on which to build their own local policies. These objectives are not ranked in order of importance. Each has equal weighting and all must be paramount considerations when Licensing Boards are carrying out their responsibilities.

These 5 objectives are:

• Preventing crime and disorder;
• Securing public safety;
• Preventing public nuisance;
• Protecting and improving public health; and
• Protecting children from harm.

Statement of Licensing Policy

Section 6 of the Act requires a Licensing Board to prepare and publish a Statement of Licensing Policy every three years. Licensing policies must be published before the Board carries out any function in respect of individual applications made under the terms of the Act. During each three year period, the policy must be kept under review and the Licensing Board may make to it such revisions as it considers appropriate.

 Transition to the New Act

The transition period will start on the 1 February 2008 and last for a period of nineteen months until the end of August 2009 with the single appointment date being 1 September 2009.  Transition will take place at 0500 on Tuesday 01 September 2009.

During Transition it will be necessary for 1976 Act licences to continue to run until 1 September 2009 when 1976 Act licences will terminate automatically. During this period licences will be deemed to automatically be extended. No new licences will be issued. To promote fairness for licensees and reduce administrative complications, the following will be implemented during transition:

  • No 1976 Act renewals – existing licences due to expire during transition and which would require renewal will be automatically extended to run until the end of the transition period. Any automatic extension will include extending the licensees’ children’s certificate (Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions)(Scotland) Act 1990 section 49).
  • 1976 Act regular extensions – such regular (annual) extensions as have been granted under section 64 of the 1976 Act when transition begins will be automatically extended to run until the end of the transition period.
  • There will no longer be set Quarterly meetings. The last quarterly meetings will be held in January 2008.
  • The Board will be required to use delegated powers/duty to delegate to clerks the remaining business of the 1976 Act, such as licence transfers. However Clerks are required to revert a case to a Board where they consider this to be ‘necessary or expedient’.

The transfer of Existing Premises licences

To ensure a controlled flow of applications all existing licensees are required to apply for their new licence during one of the following periods, according to the month of the quarterly Board meeting in which their existing licence is due to expire (the year of expiry being irrelevant):

  • March expiries– must apply by the last lodging date of 7 March 2008
  • June expiries– must apply by the last lodging date of 6 June 2008
  • October expiries – must apply by the last lodging date of 3 October 2008
  • January expiries– must apply by the last lodging date of 16 January 2009
  • Clubs - must apply by the last lodging date of 30 January 2009