• What you need to know - guidance and legislation
• Treatment and storage licence
• Research licence
  • Applying for a research licence
  • After you apply for a research licence - clinic inspections
  • Licence decisions
  • After you are licensed
• Vary your licence
• Closing your clinic
• Licence fees
• What we license

After the Licence Committee has come to a decision regarding your application for a research licence, it will write informing the Person Responsible and any Licence Holder of its decision.

• What is a Person Responsible?
• What is a Licence Holder?

If your licence is granted

If the Licence Committee decision is to grant a research licence, they will either:

• issue a licence, or 
• issue a licence subject to specific conditions

Granting of a licence

If the Committee decides to grant a licence, it will inform the Person Responsible and the Licence holder and, on receipt of any additional fee which is due, it will issue the licence.

Each licence is subject to certain statutory conditions which are set out in Sections 12 to 15 of the HF & E Act and to standard conditions which can be found in the Code of Practice and Chair's Letters.

• HFEA Code of Practice 
• HFE Act - OPSI website

Granting of a licence subject to specific conditions

If the Committee decides to grant a licence subject to additional conditions, it will inform the Person Responsible and the Nominal Licensee of these further conditions (in addition to those set out above).

Accepting or contesting licence conditions

Licences will be issued only after the applicant and the Person Responsible have accepted the licence conditions in writing and paid any additional fee which is due. 

Centres have 28 days in which to notify us that they wish to make representations about a Licence Committee decision.

If your application is refused

If the Committee proposes to refuse a licence, the applicant will be informed in writing (Section 19(1) of the HFE Act).
Centres have 28 days in which to notify us that they wish to make representations about a Licence Committee decision.

• HFE Act - OPSI website

Appeals procedures

The HFE Act provides applicants with the right of appeal when a Licence Committee refuses to grant or vary a licence. Full details are set out in Sections 19, 20 and 21 of the HFE Act and the Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority (Licence Committee and Appeals) Regulations 1991.

• HFE Act - OPSI website
• Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority Regulations 1991 - OPSI website

Page last updated: 07 October 2009

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