High Court Clips Wings Of Licensing Bodies

On 14 August, 2014, the High Court delivered a judgment which will be of significant interest to applicants for licences and licensing bodies alike. The judgment provides guidance on the proper, contextual, interpretation of such bodies' discretionary information-gathering powers, and on the limitations that can emerge as a result. The judgment also holds that it may be unreasonable and unlawful to refuse a licence, even where validly-sought information is not provided by an applicant, if there is a disproportion between (i) the information not provided, and (ii) the consequences for the applicant of being refused a licence.

Background

In this case, the applicant applied to the Revenue for particular types of fuel-traders' licences.

The statutory licensing provision indicated that the applicant needed to provide information to enable the Revenue:

to specify the licensed activities and conditions regarding suitability of premises, and so on; and to establish whether the applicant had been convicted of certain offences; whether it had a current tax clearance certificate; and whether it was able to satisfy the Revenue that it, or the premises, could fulfil whatever conditions the Revenue might impose. Nevertheless, the Revenue additionally sought information and records relating to...