PART 3DUTIES OF COMPETENT AUTHORITIES IN RELATION TO PROVISION OF SERVICES IN UNITED KINGDOM
Authorisations
Conditions for the granting of authorisation15.
(1)
An authorisation scheme provided for by a competent authority must be based on criteria which preclude the competent authority from exercising its power of assessment in an arbitrary manner.
(2)
The criteria must be—
F1(a)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(b)
justified by an overriding reason relating to the public interest,
(c)
proportionate to that public interest objective,
(d)
clear and unambiguous,
(e)
objective,
(f)
made public in advance, and
(g)
transparent and accessible.
(3)
The conditions imposed by a competent authority for granting authorisation for a new establishment under an authorisation scheme must not duplicate requirements and controls—
(a)
to which the provider of the service is already subject in the United Kingdom F2..., and
(b)
that are equivalent or essentially comparable as regards their purpose.
(4)
The provider of the service must assist the competent authority by providing any necessary information requested by the competent authority regarding the requirements and controls referred to in paragraph (3); and paragraph (3) does not apply if the provider has not provided that information within a reasonable time of being requested to do so.
F3(5)
Paragraph (5A) applies in the case of an authorisation granted under an authorisation scheme by a competent authority whose functions relate to the whole of the United Kingdom.
(5A)
The provider of the service must be able to have access to the service activity, or to exercise that activity, throughout the United Kingdom by virtue of the authorisation.
(5B)
Paragraph (5C) applies in the case of an authorisation granted under an authorisation scheme by a competent authority whose functions relate only to part of the United Kingdom (a “territorial authority”).
(5C)
The provider of the service must be able to have access to the service activity, or to exercise that activity, throughout the United Kingdom by virtue of the authorisation and authorisations granted or treated as granted under an authorisation scheme by other territorial authorities.
(5D)
Paragraphs (5A) and (5C) do not apply where an authorisation for each individual establishment or a limitation of the authorisation to a particular part or area of the United Kingdom is justified by an overriding reason relating to the public interest.
(5E)
The references in paragraphs (5A) and (5C) to the provider of the service having access to the service activity, or exercising that activity, include doing those things by means of setting up agencies, subsidiaries, branches or offices.
(7)
A competent authority must grant an authorisation under an authorisation scheme as soon as it is established, in the light of an appropriate examination, that the conditions for authorisation have been met.
(8)
Except in the case of the granting of an authorisation, any decision of the competent authority relating to an authorisation under an authorisation scheme, including refusal or withdrawal of an authorisation, must be fully reasoned.