Section 76- Prohibited conditions: plays

139.     Under this section, in the case of a club premises certificate authorising the performance of a play (see Schedule 1), licensing authorities will not be able to attach conditions relating to the nature of the play performed or the manner of its performance, unless they are justified as a matter of public safety. This section reproduces for England and Wales the effect of section 1(2) of the Theatres Act 1968.

Section 77 - Grant or rejection of application for club premises certificate

140.      By virtue of this section a licensing authority which grants or refuses a club premises certificate must notify its decision to the applicant, to any person who made representations and to the chief officer of police for the area in which the premises are situated. If the application is granted, the licensing authority must also notify those parties of any steps it took in response to relevant representations and give its reasons. It must issue the club premises certificate, and a summary of that certificate, to the applicant. If the application is rejected, the licensing authority must notify those parties of the reasons for its decision.

Section 78 - Form of certificate and summary

141.     This section makes provision for a club premises certificate and the summary of that certificate to be in a form prescribed in regulations made by the Secretary of State. Subsection (2) lists the basic requirements which those regulations must include as to the content of the certificate. Under section 94, the summary must be displayed at the relevant premises.

Section 79 - Theft, loss etc. of certificate or summary

142.     Subsection (1) provides that a club may apply to the licensing authority for a copy of a club premises certificate or summary if that certificate or summary has been lost, stolen, damaged or destroyed. Subsection (3) provides that if the licensing authority is satisfied of the veracity of such an application, it must then issue a certified copy of that certificate. Where a certificate has been lost or stolen, there is an additional requirement that the club has reported this to the police. A fee may be prescribed for the issue of replacement documents. The Act applies in relation to a copy in the same way as it applies to the original.

Section 80 - Period of validity of club premises certificate

143.     By virtue of this section a club premises certificate has effect until it is withdrawn (see section 88 and 90) or it lapses on surrender by the club (see section 81). Subsection (2) provides that a club premises certificate does not have effect during periods of suspension.

Section 81 - Surrender of club premises certificate

144.     This section provides that a club may voluntarily surrender its club premises certificate by returning it to the authority accompanied by a notice of surrender. If it is impractical to return the certificate (e.g. where it has been lost), a statement to this effect must be sent with the notice of surrender. A club premises certificate lapses when the authority receives the notice of surrender.

Section 82 - Notification of change of name or alteration of rules of club

145.     Under this section, the secretary of a club must notify the relevant licensing authority of any change in the club's name or its rules. Notification of such a change must be accompanied by the certificate (unless that is impracticable and then a statement of the reasons as to why that is the case must be provided) and any fee that may have been prescribed. The licensing authority must amend the club premises certificate to record any such change, but a certificate may not be amended under this section so as to change the premises to which it relates. Failure to notify the authority of such a change within 28 days is an offence.

Section 83 - Change of relevant registered address of a club

146.     Under this section, the secretary of a club may notify the relevant licensing authority of any change in the club's address, and must do so if the club ceases to make use of the address which it has given as its relevant registered address. Notification of such a change must be accompanied by the certificate (unless that is impracticable and then a statement of the reasons as to why this is the case must be provided) and any fee that may have been prescribed. The licensing authority must amend the club premises certificate to record any such change. Failure by a club to notify the authority of a change of address when it has to do so is an offence.

Section 84 - Application to vary club premises certificate

Section 85 - Determination of application under section 84 and

Section 86 - Supplementary provision about applications under section 84

147.     Under these sections a club can apply, in the prescribed form and manner, to vary its club premises certificate in any way other than to vary substantially the premises to which it relates. Any such application may be subject to the payment of a fee and is subject to regulations under section 71 relating to advertising requirements. The application must also be accompanied by the club premises certificate (unless that is impracticable, in which case a statement of reasons must be provided).

148.     Under section 85 the licensing authority must make the variation as applied for unless relevant representations are made, in which case a hearing must be held. In order for representations to be 'relevant' they must have been made by an interested party or a responsible authority (see the definitions in section 69) and they must relate to the likely effect on the promotion of the licensing objectives if the application were to be granted. If the representations are made by an interested party there is a further requirement that the licensing authority does not consider them to be frivolous or vexatious (but if it does the authority is to explain its decision to the person who made the representations). The need for a hearing can be dispensed with by agreement of the authority, the applicant for the variation and all of the parties who have made relevant representations.

149.     By virtue of subsection (3) of section 85, in any case where relevant representations have been made, the licensing authority must, if it considers it necessary for the promotion of the licensing objectives (see section 4), modify the conditions of the certificate or reject the application for variation. Otherwise, the licensing authority must grant the variation in the terms sought (subject to the mandatory conditions). The authority must notify its decision to the applicant, the police and any person who has made relevant representations, and must give reasons for its decision. A variation of a club premises certificate may impose different conditions on different parts of the premises, or impose different conditions in relation to different qualifying club activities.

Section 87 - Application for review of club premises certificate

150.     Subsections (1) to (3) make provision for an interested party, responsible authority or a member of the club in question to apply (in such manner and form as may be prescribed and subject to any regulations made about requirements as to notification and advertisements) to a licensing authority for a review of the club premises certificate. Subsections (4) to (7) provide that the authority can at any stage reject a ground for review in an application if it is not relevant to any of the licensing objectives, or (where the application is made by an interested party) if it is frivolous, vexatious or repetitious. (A ground for review is a repetitious if it is identical or substantially similar to a ground for review already considered by the authority in a previous review, or in the determination of the application for grant of the certificate, and a reasonable period has not passed since that time).

Section88 - Determination of application for review and

Section 89 - Supplementary provision about review

151.     Under the provisions of these sections the licensing authority must hold a hearing to consider and determine the application for a review and any relevant representations made in respect of it. Having regard to those matters, the authority must, if it considers it necessary for the promotion of the licensing objectives modify the conditions of the certificate or the activities which it covers, suspend the authority of the certificate for a period not exceeding 3 months or revoke the certificate. Otherwise the certificate will not be altered.

152.     Section 88 provides that for representations to be relevant they must relate to one or more of the licensing objectives and be made by the club, a responsible authority or an interested party. If made by an interested party, the authority must be satisfied that they are not frivolous or vexatious. If the authority considers that they are, it must inform the party making the representations of its decision. The authority must notify the applicant, the club, any person who made relevant representations and the police of its decision and its reasons.

153.     A local authority that is both the relevant licensing authority and a responsible authority - for example, where it carries out the functions of the local environmental health authority - may apply for a review in its capacity as a responsible authority and determine that application.

Section 90 - Club ceasing to be a qualifying club

154.     A club which ceases to meet the criteria set out at sections 61, 62 and 63 and 64 will have its certificate withdrawn by the licensing authority. Where a certificate is withdrawn because the club's membership has fallen below the required minimum (currently 25), the withdrawal will not have effect until three months after the authority gives notice and does not have effect if, by the end of those three months, the membership has risen to at least the required minimum.

155.     A justice of the peace may issue a search warrant authorising a constable to enter club premises (if necessary using force) to search them if he is satisfied that a club holding a club premises certificate ceases to meet the criteria necessary to be a qualifying club and evidence of such fact may be obtained at the club premises.

Section 91 - Form etc. of applications and notices under Part 4

156.     This section allows for the detail of the form, manner and content of applications, and any accompanying documents, to be set out in regulations.

Section 92 - Fees

157.     Clubs may be required by regulations to pay an annual fee to the licensing authority, the amount and due date of which may be prescribed, or fees in relation to any applications (other than an application for a review) or notices made under this Part.

Section 93 - Duty to provide licensing authority with club premises certificate

158.     A club must produce the certificate at the request of the licensing authority. Failure to do so without reasonable excuse is an offence.

Section 94 - Duty to keep and produce certificate

Section 95 - Provision supplementary to section 94

159.     Clubs must ensure that the certificate is held on the relevant premises, and that a summary of the certificate and notice of the nominated individual responsible for it on the premises are displayed prominently. Failure to comply with those provisions is an offence.

160.     A police officer or authorised person (see section 69) may require production of the certificate; failure to produce it is an offence.

Section 96 - Inspection of premises before grant of certificate etc.

161.     This section makes provision for a constable authorised by the chief officer of police or an authorised person (see section 69) to enter premises to which an application for a club premises certificate relates, or to which an application for a variation or a review of the certificate relates and inspect those premises, having given the club 48 hours notice. It is an offence to obstruct an authorised person exercising the power this section confers. It is already an offence under the Police Act 1996 to obstruct a police officer in the course of his duty.

Section 97 - Other powers of entry and search

162.     This section provides that a constable may enter and search club premises where he has reasonable cause to believe that an offence in respect of controlled drugs has been, is being, or is about to be, committed there or there is likely to be a breach of the peace.

PART 5: Permitted temporary activities

163.     Part 5 makes provision for a system that would allow individuals - "premises users" - to carry out licensable activities on a temporary basis (for a period not exceeding 96 hours), subject to various conditions and limits attaching to the number of events which may be permitted. Different limits apply depending on whether or not the person carrying out licensable activities holds a personal licence (see Part 6) and the frequency of use of the premises.

164.     Examples of circumstances under which an individual might make use of the arrangements could include:

• where a personal licence holder wishes to carry out one or more licensable activities at premises not covered by a premises licence relating to those activities. For example, a publican may be engaged to run a temporary bar for a wedding at a venue not licensed for the sale of alcohol, or may wish to provide a temporary disco in premises licensed for the sale of alcohol but not for the provision of regulated entertainment. For personal licence holders, the number of occasions which could be covered by these arrangements in any one year would be subject to a limit of 50.

• where an individual who does not hold a personal licence wishes to carry out one or more licensable activities at any premises, regardless of whether they are covered by a premises licence relating to those activities. For example, an individual may wish to run a bar and provide a band at a party to celebrate a 50^th wedding anniversary. This may be done by the same person on no more than five occasions in any one calendar year.

• In both cases, the arrangements would only apply where the number of attendees at the event is lower than 500. In addition, no premises may be used more than 12 times in any one calendar year by virtue of this Part, with an overall maximum of 15 days in any one year on which temporary events may take place at any particular premises.

Section 98 - Meaning of 'permitted temporary activity'

165.     This section provides that a 'permitted temporary activity' is one that is carried on in accordance with a temporary event notice given to the relevant licensing authority (see section 99 paragraph 166 below) and which satisfies the following conditions:

a)     the temporary event notice has been duly acknowledged by the licensing authority (see section 102, paragraph 172 below) and notified to the police (see section 104, paragraph 174 below)

b)     the temporary event notice has not been subsequently withdrawn by the individual giving the notice and

c)     the licensing authority has not issued a counter-notice. A counter-notice would be issued, if necessary, following a hearing of any objections raised by the police to the effect that the crime prevention objective would be undermined by allowing the activity to go ahead (see section 105, paragraph 175 below) or if the permitted limits attaching to the person giving the notice or the premises would be exceeded (see section 107, paragraph 177 below)

Section 99- The relevant licensing authority

166.     This section defines the licensing authority for the purposes of this Part and as a consequence determines the authority, or authorities if the premises straddles more than one licensing authority area, to which a temporary event notice must be given.

Section 100 - Temporary event notice

167.     This section provides that an individual, known as a premises user, who proposes to carry on a licensable activity for a temporary period of not more than 96 hours may submit a notice to the relevant licensing authority of the proposal for the event. Such notice is defined as a temporary event notice. The premises user must be at least 18 years old.

168.     Subsections (4) and (5) provide that the notice must be in a form prescribed in regulations by the Secretary of State and set out certain details about the proposed event:

a)     the licensable activities that are to be carried out

b)     the total length of the event - which must not exceed 96 hours

c)     the times during the event that the licensable activities are to be carried out (for example, where an individual wishes to organise an event that covers 36 hours and where the bar will be open for two evenings within that time).

d)     the maximum number of people to be allowed on to the premises at any one time - which must be less than 500

e)     whether any alcohol sales are to be made for consumption on or off the premises (or both)

f)     any other information that may be prescribed by regulations.

169.     Subsection (6) requires that if the licensable activities proposed in the notice include the supply of alcohol, the notice must include a condition that all such supplies will be made by, or under the authority of, the premises user. The temporary event notice must be given to the licensing authority at least ten working days before the event. Before the time of the event the licensing authority must acknowledge the notice, the police must consider the notice and decide whether to give notice of objection and if the police object, the authority must, if necessary, convene a hearing, to decide whether to serve a counter notice. Although ten working days is the minimum specified, it is anticipated that in most circumstances greater notice will be given. The temporary event notice must be submitted in duplicate and accompanied by any fee prescribed in regulations made by the Secretary of State

170.     Subsection (8) provides that the Secretary of State may by order (subject to affirmative resolution procedure) amend the limits as to the length of time permissible for any single temporary event and the number of people who may attend an event. This will enable the Secretary of State to change the limits in response to experience of the working of the new regime.

Section 101 - Minimum of 24 hours between event periods

171.     This section provides that there must be a minimum period of 24 hours between temporary events held on the same premises by a premises user, or held by that user and another person who is related to, associated with or in business with that user. This prevents a premises user holding numerous consecutive temporary events as a means of avoiding an application for a premises licence. If a temporary event takes place on premises that are included within or include other premises where another temporary event takes place, then the two events are deemed to take place on the same premises.

Section 102 - Acknowledgement of notice

172.     Under this section, the licensing authority must acknowledge the temporary event notice given to it by a premises user by returning the duplicate notice to the premises user within a specified period. However, subsection (3) provides that an acknowledgement is not to be given if the licensing authority has already served a counter notice on the premises user under section 107 to the effect that the permitted number of events would be exceeded if the notified event took place.

Section 103- Withdrawal of notice

173.     This section provides that a premises user can withdraw a temporary event notice up to 24 hours before the event is scheduled to take place. Once withdrawn, the notice does not count towards the limits on the number of temporary event notices that may be submitted during a calendar year.

Section 104 - Objection to notice by police

Section 105 - Counter notice following police objection and

Section 106 - Modification of notice following police objection

174.     Section 104 provides that no later than ten working days before the beginning of the event period proposed in the temporary event notice, the premises user must give a copy of the notice to the chief officer of police in the relevant area. If the police are of the view that allowing the event to proceed would undermine the crime prevention objective, they must notify (an objection notice) the premises user and the relevant licensing authority, stating their reasons, no later than 48 hours after receipt of the copy of the notice.

175.     Section 105 provides that, if the police object, the licensing authority must hold a hearing to consider the objection notice unless all parties agree that a hearing is unnecessary. If the authority accepts the police objection it must issue a counter-notice to the premises user in which case the event cannot proceed. If the authority does not accept the police objection it must inform the police. Any decision or counter-notice must be issued to the premises user at least 24 hours before the specified event period. A failure to do so will result in the premises user being able to proceed with the event.

176.     Section 106 provides that, in cases where the police have given an objection notice, at any point between notification and the hearing the police and premises user may agree to modify the temporary event notice in order that it no longer undermines the promotion of the crime prevention objective. When temporary event notices are modified, the notice of objection by the police is withdrawn, and the modified temporary event notice has effect.

Section 107 - Counter notice where permitted limits exceeded

177.     Subsection (1) requires a licensing authority to issue a counter-notice on receipt of a temporary event notice where

• the premises user is a personal licence holder who has already given 50 temporary event notices within the same calendar year as the specified event period, or

• when the premises user does not hold a personal licence, but has already given five temporary event notices in that year, or

• where twelve temporary event notices have been given in respect of the same premises in that year, or

• where temporary event notices are given for events at the same premises falling on more than 15 days in a year.

178.     Subsection (12) gives the Secretary of State power by order to amend the limits in this section as to the numbers of temporary event notices that can be given by any person or in respect of any premises, or the number of days in any year when temporary events can take place at any premises. Again the orders are subject to the affirmative resolution procedure.

179.     The effect of giving such a counter notice is that the proposed event is not a permitted temporary activity and is not authorised to proceed.

Section 108 - Right of entry where temporary event notice given and

Section 109 - Duty to keep and produce temporary event notice

180.     Constables and officers of a licensing authority will be able to enter premises to assess the likely impact of a temporary event notice on the promotion of the crime prevention objective. The officer of a licensing authority must, if requested, produce evidence of his authority. It is an offence to obstruct such an officer exercising his powers under this section. It is already an offence to obstruct a constable in the exercise of his duty (see Police Act 1996).

181.     The premises user must ensure that the notice is displayed at the premises or is kept there under his control or the control of a person nominated by him. In the latter case, a notice to that effect must be displayed at the premises. It is an offence for the premises user to fail to comply with this requirement. It is also an offence for a person who holds the premises licence under such arrangements to fail to produce it to a constable or an officer of a licensing authority when requested to do so.

Section 110 - Theft, loss etc. of temporary event notice

182.     This section provides that premises users may apply to the licensing authority that acknowledged the temporary event notice for a copy of that notice if the notice has been lost, stolen, damaged or destroyed. If lost or stolen, the premises user is obliged to notify the police before a copy will be issued. There may be a fee prescribed for the issue of replacement documents. By virtue of subsection (2) an application for a copy of the notice cannot be made later than one month after the event. Subsection (6) provides that the copy of the notice will have effect as if it were the original.

PART 6: Personal Licences

183.     Part 6 establishes a regime for the supply of alcohol to be regulated by the granting of personal licences to individuals. The licensing of individuals separately from the licensing of premises permits the movement of personal licence holders from one set of premises to another. The Act also provides the police and licensing authorities with powers to deal with errant personal licence holders.

184.     The personal licence is to relate only to the supply of alcohol (as defined in section 111(2)) and not to other activities covered by the Act such as regulated entertainment or the provision of late night refreshment, for which no personal licence will be required. A personal licence does not authorise its holder to supply alcohol anywhere, but only from premises with a premises licence.

185.     Where premises have a premises licence authorising the supply of alcohol, a personal licence must be held by the nominated individual responsible for the day-to-day running of the licensed premises, known as the designated premises supervisor. More than one individual at the licensed premises may hold a personal licence, although it will not be necessary for all staff to be licensed. But, all supplies of alcohol under a premises licence must be made by or under the authority of a personal licence holder.

186.     A personal licence is issued for ten years in the first instance and there will be a presumption in favour of renewal if the licence holder has not been convicted of any offence.

187.     The initial grant of a personal licence will additionally be subject to the possession of an accredited qualification. However, during the transitional period, existing holders of justices' licences for the sale of alcohol, will not be required to obtain an accredited qualification (see paragraph 23 of Schedule 8). Rather, there will be a general presumption that a personal licence will be granted automatically, except in limited circumstance (for example following representations by the police that to do so would undermine the crime prevention objective).

188.     Convictions for offences which are relevant for the purposes of the determination of applications for the grant or renewal of a personal licence include:

• those involving serious crime

• those involving serious dishonesty

• those involving the supply of drugs

• certain sexual offences

• offences created by the Act.

(see paragraph 191 below on section 113 and Schedule 4).