S.L. 623.9 Art. 3Applicability and transitory provisions. 

(1) The exercise of any of the service activities stipulated in Schedule I shall not be carried out by any person or entity unless the said person or entity has acquired a valid licence for the exercise of such service activity.

(2) Any natural person, who upon the coming into force of these regulations has already assumed, or intends to assume, the exercise of any of the service activities listed in Schedule I and to whom the provisions of the Act apply, shall submit an application for a licence with respect to that service activity.

(3) Any entity which upon the coming into force of these regulations has already assumed, or intends to assume, the exercise of any of the service activities listed in Schedule I, and to which the provisions of the Act apply, shall submit an application for a licence with respect to that service activity.

(4) Without prejudice to the provisions of sub-regulation (1), any person or entity having submitted an application as laid down sub-regulations (2) or (3), shall not pending the determination of that application, be withheld from continuing in the exercise of any of the service activities listed in Schedule I and to which the application for licence relates, if the application is deemed to have been submitted in a complete and valid prescribed form by the applicable time-frame, and unless the Authority directs otherwise when in its opinion the circumstances so require:

Provided that during the period pending the determination of an application, the applicant shall be responsible to fulfill the obligations referred to in regulations 5:

Provided further that when the applicant contravenes any provision of the Act or any regulations made thereunder during the period pending the determination of the application, apart from being subject to enforcement procedures in terms of the Act, the Authority may consider the applicant’s contravention as a ground for refusal of his application and consequently withhold the applicant from the exercise of the service activity to which the application relates.

(5) Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding sub-regulations, any person or entity applying for a licence may continue in the exercise of the service activity to which the licence relates during the period pending the determination of the application if:

(a) the application is deemed to have been submitted in a complete and valid form by the time-frame specified in this sub-regulation; and

(b) the Committee, within sixty (60) days from the submission of a valid application, issues a provisional clearance that authorises the exercise of that service activity:

Provided that at any time during the period pending the determination of the application, the Authority may revoke the applicant’s provisional clearance and withhold him from the exercise of the service activity to which the application relates wherever the Authority considers that the circumstances so require:

Provided further that when the applicant contravenes any provision of the Act or any regulations made thereunder during the period pending the determination of the application, apart from being subject to enforcement procedures in accordance with the Act, the Authority may consider the applicant’s contravention as a ground for withdrawal of the provisional clearance and, or the application, and consequently withhold the applicant from the exercise of the service activity to which the application relates.

(6) Any person or entity who fails to apply for a licence in terms of sub-regulations (2), (3) or (5), as applicable, may not assume the exercise or continue to exercise any of the service activities listed in Schedule I without first having acquired a valid licence issued in terms of these regulations.