Licensing review
ORR consulted in August 2005 on proposed changes to licences and set out updates to the regime following new legislation; the Railways Act 2005 and the implementation of the first rail infrastructure package. For the 13 broadly supportive responses we received see Related links.
Licensing Review: Conclusions (published 18 January 2006) set out various simplifications of model licences granted to operators of trains, stations, networks and light maintenance depots. These followed our review of all standard licence conditions, addressed issues raised in the responses, and reflected our commitment to best practice in regulation.
Other changes arose from the Railways Act 2005, in particular the transfer in July 2005 of consumer protection licence conditions formerly the responsibility of the SRA, and from the implementation in November 2005 of the European Directive on rail licensing.
The Conclusions confirmed the proportionate, light touch approach we are taking to the new requirements of the Licensing Directive, including a new standard of financial fitness that most freight and passenger train operators must meet on an ongoing basis. The ongoing requirements do not however apply to operators of stations, networks and light maintenance depots.
New, streamlined model licences can be viewed from the Model licences page. Five outdated conditions have been deleted, four conditions have been merged into two to improve transparency, and one has been shortened from fifteen pages to four paragraphs. From 18 January 2006, we adopted the new models as the basis for all future authorisations we grant. In addition on 2 February 2006 we wrote to those licence holders whose documentation is in largely standard form to ask their consent to bring these into line with the new models. The process for making these changes required a statutory notice, which is available in the related links.
Notice of Modification
On 30 March 2007 we issued a Notice of Modification to all operators who had consented to modifications to their licences/SNRPs. This notice and schedules are available in related links. Responses to the notice are also available.
