The business licence application process is set out below:

 

Notices

Any person intending to apply for:

  1. a new licence;
  2. an extension to an existing licence; or
  3. a transfer of an existing licence to another premises,

must first give notice to the public of their intention to make the relevant application. This gives the public an opportunity to object to the application being granted.

Notices of an intention to make an application are made by publishing two completed copies of the relevant 'Form 1' forms, depending on the application being made:

  1. Form 1a - Notice of Intention to apply for a new Business Licence
  2. Form 1b - Notice of intention to apply for an extension to scope of licence
  3. Form 1c - Notice of intention to apply for transfer of licence to other premises

Two notices must be made for each application:

  1. The first publication must be made in the Gibraltar Gazette. This publication is arranged directly through the OFT. To do so please submit a completed Form 1 by e-mail to business.licensing@gibraltar.gov.gi or hand it in at our public counter in Suite 975, Europort. The fee for publishing a notice in the Gazette is £20. Once you notice is accepted by the OFT we shall send you a payment link by e-mail or you can pay at our public counter. Note the Gazette is published each Thursday for notices received the previous week. The cut-off time for publications in the next week's Gazettes is noon on Friday.
  2. The second publication must be made in any newspaper circulating in Gibraltar at the time. This is arranged by the applicant directly with the relevant newspaper. Prices may vary between local newspapers however these are normally in the region of £50 to £70.

Please note that publishing these notices does not constitute an application (see below).

Please also note that the notice should include up to date contact details and a mandatory postal address from Gibraltar. Postal addresses from other jurisdictions are not accepted.

Applications for the transfer of an existing licence to another person are not required to publish notices and these applications may be submitted directly to the OFT using Form 2d (see below).

Applications

For applications requiring a notice (see above), seven days after the date of the latest notice has been published, the applicant may then submit a completed copy of one of the following application forms to the OFT:

  1. Form 2a - Application for a new Business Licence
  2. Form 2b - Application for extension to scope of licence
  3. Form2c - Application for transfer of licence to other premises

To apply for the transfer of an existing licence to another person the applicant may submit a completed copy of Form 2d - Application for transfer of licence where business is to remain on the same premises. No notice is required for this type of application.

Each application from must be accompanied by the relevant documentary evidence supporting the application. A checklist setting out the relevant supporting documents for each application is set out below:

  1. Form 2a - New business licence application supporting information checklist
  2. Form 2b - Extension to scope of licence supporting information checklist
  3. Form 2c - Transfer of licence to other premises supporting information checklist
  4. Form 2d - Transfer of licence to another person supporting information checklist

Should the premises from which a business shall be carried out require alterations, the relevant planning permission must be sought by making an application to to the Department of Town Planning & Building Control (Suite 631, Europort) prior to applying for a business licence.

For relevant fees please see below.

Objecting to applications

Any person who wishes to object to the issue of a licence may, in accordance with section 74 of the Fair Trading Act 2015, give notice of his objection within seven days from the date on which the relevant notice has been published. The objection notice must set out valid grounds for objection.

The objector must give notice of their objection to both:

  1. the BLA at the OFT's offices (Suite 975, Europort); and
  2. to the applicant using the contact details set out in the application notice.

Note that objection notices that have not been served onboth the BLA and the applicant cannot be considered by the BLA.

The filing fee for an objection is £90. The OFT will not be able to accept the notice if the £90 objection filing fee is not paid to the OFT.

The objection must be made using the relevant Form 3:

  1. Form 3A - Notice of objection to application for new licence: Download PDF
  2. Form 3B - Notice of objection to extension to scope of licence: Download PDF
  3. Form 3C - Notice of objection to transfer of licence to other premises: Download PDF

Fees

The following fees are applicable in respect of business licence matters:

Fee for an application for a new licence for a single business class £162
Fee for the renewal of an existing licence with a single business class £108
Fee for an application for a provisional licence – start ups £102.50
Fee for each additional business class included on an application for a new licence £97
Fee for an application to extend the scope of an existing licence by each additional business class £97
Fee for application to transfer licence to other premises £97
Fee for application to transfer licence remaining on the same premises £97
Objection filing fee £97
Fee for each additional business class included on a renewal for an existing licence £65
Fee for application for a duplicate licence £38
Inspection of the business licence register £5.50

Further guidance

For further guidance about the various forms and how to complete and submit these please refer to the OFT's guidance notes.

We trust you have found the information provided above useful. If you have any questions however please do not hesitate to contact the Business Licensing team.