Section 17 – licences
44.Section 17 provides that persons may take any actions which would otherwise breach the prohibitions in sections 11 to 15 of the Act if they do so under authority of a licence granted by the Treasury (subsection (1)). The Treasury have the power to vary or revoke a licence at any time (subsection (4)). Subsection (2) provides that, where relevant, such a licence also constitutes authorisation under Article 6 of the EC Regulation. Article 6 provides a similar power to Competent Authorities to authorise actions which would otherwise breach the prohibitions under the EC Regulation.
45.Subsection (3) deals with the contents, scope and duration of licences issued by the Treasury. A licence must specify the acts authorised by it and may be (a) general or granted to a category of persons or to a particular person, (b) subject to conditions and (c) of indefinite duration or subject to an expiry date.
46.Subsection (5) sets out the notification requirements on the Treasury in the event that they grant, vary or revoke a licence, which are that they give written notice of the grant, variation or revocation to the person to whom the licence is granted or, if it is a general licence or granted to a category of persons, they take such steps as they consider appropriate to publicise the grant, variation or revocation.
47.Subsection (6) makes it an offence for a person knowingly or recklessly to provide information that is false in a material respect, or provide or produce a document that is not what it purports to be, for the purpose of obtaining a licence. Under subsection (7) it is an offence for a person who purports to act under the authority of a licence to fail to comply with any conditions imposed on that person by the licence.
