The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 — back to Table of Contents
Section 31. Licensing and registration of food business
No person may commence or carry on a food business except under a licence. Petty manufacturers, retailers, hawkers, itinerant vendors, temporary stall holders and small-scale/cottage or tiny food business operators are exempt from licensing but must register with the specified authority in the specified manner.
Applications for a licence go to the Designated Officer, who may grant it or, after a hearing and recorded reasons, refuse it in the public-health interest, providing a copy of the order. If a licence is neither issued nor rejected within two months, the applicant may commence business, and the Designated Officer may then only issue an improvement notice rather than refuse the licence.
Licences are in a specified form and subject to specified conditions; a single licence may cover multiple foods and premises within the same area, but separate licences are needed for premises in different areas. Appeals against refusal lie to the Commissioner of Food Safety. A licence, unless earlier suspended or cancelled, remains valid for a specified period and continues if a renewal application is pending, and subsists for a deceased licensee’s representative or family for three months (or longer, if allowed) after death.
