Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005

24 Applicant’s duty to notify Licensing Board of convictions

(1) This section applies where any of the persons specified in subsection (2) is convicted of a relevant or foreign offence during the period beginning with the making of a premises licence application and ending with determination of the application.

(2) Those persons are—

(a) the applicant, and

(b) where—

(i) the applicant is neither an individual nor a council, or

(ii) the premises in respect of which the licence is sought are used wholly or mainly for the purposes of a club,

any connected person.

(3) The applicant must, no later than one month after the date of the conviction, give notice of the conviction to the Licensing Board to which the application was made.

(4) A notice under subsection (3) must specify—

(a) the nature of the offence, and

(b) the date of the conviction.

(5) Where the Licensing Board receives a notice under subsection (3) at any time before they have determined the application, the Board must—

(a) suspend consideration of the application, and

(b) give notice of the conviction to the appropriate chief constable.

(6) The appropriate chief constable must, within 21 days of the date of receipt of a notice under subsection (5)(b), respond to the notice by giving the Licensing Board one or other of the notices mentioned in subsection (7).

(7) Those notices are—

(a) a notice stating that the chief constable is unable to confirm the existence of the conviction or that the conviction does not relate to a relevant offence or foreign offence, or

(b) a notice confirming the existence of the conviction and that it relates to a relevant offence or foreign offence.

(8) Where the chief constable—

(a) proposes to give a notice under subsection (7)(b), and

(b) considers that, having regard to the conviction specified in the notice, it is necessary for the purposes of the crime prevention objective that the application be refused,

the chief constable may include in the notice a recommendation to that effect.

(9) On receipt of the chief constable’s notice under subsection (7), the Licensing Board must resume consideration of the application and determine it in accordance with section 23.

(10) For that purpose, that section has effect as if—

(a) references in it to a notice under section 21(4)(b) included references to a notice under subsection (7)(b) of this section, and

(b) references in it to a recommendation under section 21(5) included references to a recommendation under subsection (8) of this section.

(11) A person who, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with subsection (3) commits an offence.

(12) A person guilty of an offence under subsection (11) is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 2 on the standard scale.