Section 61 – Processing and deemed grant of applications
202.Section 61 inserts a requirement for Licensing Boards to issue an acknowledgement for relevant applications, where the application meets the requirements. The requirements for an application form are those imposed under the 2005 Act or any other relevant enactment in respect of the type of application.
203.The acknowledgement must amongst other things inform the applicant of the timescale within which the application must be decided. The acknowledgement must be issued as soon as is practicable.
204.Where an application does not meet the requirements, the Licensing Board must give notice to the applicant that they are treating the application as incomplete and as not having been made, along with their reasons.
205.A Licensing Board must determine accepted applications within nine months of the date of receipt, as recorded in the letter of acknowledgement. This period of nine months can be extended, once, by applying to the sheriff. The sheriff may extend the period for determining the application only if it appears to the sheriff that there is a good reason for doing so. The applicant is entitled to be a party to proceedings to consider such an extension. It is not intended that Boards should needlessly delay consideration because of this time limit.
206.The Licensing Board is not required to issue an acknowledgement where it would clearly not be appropriate to do so, however this would not alter the requirement to determine an application within nine months unless an extension has been granted by the sheriff. A Board may for example decide to grant a minor variation under subsection 30(2) of the 2005 Act without first issuing an acknowledgement.
207.If the Licensing Board fails to determine the application in this period then the licence will be deemed to have been granted and the Licensing Board must issue the licence to the applicant as soon as practicable. The Licensing Board must apply the relevant mandatory conditions, under schedule 3, or 4, including, where applicable, the Late Opening Premises Conditions, as set out in The Licensing Conditions (Late Opening Premises)(Scotland) Regulations 2007, but at time of issue, may not apply pool conditions or local conditions to a licence granted in this way.
