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Licensing

The City of Edinburgh Council's Licensing Enforcement Team includes, Licensing Standards Officers, Trading Standards Officers and Environmental Health Officers. The Team has responsibility for ensuring compliance with the relevant legislation relating to each of these areas at licensed events city wide. Officers from the Team will work with licensees and sub-contractors to offer advice, guidance and support to ensure they are aware of all the required standards.

Licence/permit application forms, application timescales and costs involved can be downloaded from the Council website.

Liquor Licensing

The Licensing Standards Officers within the Team have three main roles - guidance, mediation and compliance. They are the first port of call for most matters pertaining to liquor licensing. Licensing Standards Officers will ensure that licensees carry out their business in a manner which complies with licensing legislation, regulations and national and local policies. They will provide advice to licensees as to what actions are required to prevent or resolve complaints.

Civic Government Licensing

Where a licence is in force or has been applied for under the terms of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 officers from the Team may visit the event or premises to assess compliance with the terms of the licence or review the application.

In addition to their licensing functions Officers from the Team also specialise in various other disciplines such as environmental health and trading standards.

Environmental Health

Environmental Health Officers from the Team will provide support and assistance to event organisers, licensees and sub-contractor. Environmental Health officers may also inspect the catering and bar units at events to ensure compliance with food/health and safety legislation. These Officers will be visiting the units during the set up time and some of the operation phase.

Good food hygiene practice is vital to ensure that the food you produce, serve or sell is safe to eat. Pre-packed foods must be appropriately labelled, and some loose foods may require appropriate advice notices.

You may wish to consult the Food Standards Agency (FSA) for further guidance.

Trading Standards

Trading standards legislation covers every conceivable type of product or service. Officers will support businesses and the public by giving free legal advice so that the highest standards of safety, quantity, quality, price and description are maintained.

There are a wide range of useful and detailed advice leaflets available from many agencies including the City of Edinburgh Council, the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

We recommend that you consult the guidance and the resource material however we appreciate this is general information and Officers from the Team are available to provide specific advice tailored to your event.

Contact:

Licensing
The City of Edinburgh Council
249 High Street
Edinburgh
EH1 1YJ
Email Licensing or call 0131 529 4208