It's hoped it will enable hospitality businesses to 'thrive'
The Department of Justice and Home Affairs is making changes to licenced premises legislation with hopes of giving greater flexibility to the hospitality industry.
Previously, the licensee or responsible person could not be absent for longer than two hours which were 'unavoidable'.
The duration is being doubled and instead of reasons being unavoidable, they'll instead need to be 'reasonable'.
However, 'reasonable' is not defined in the Liquor Licensing and Public Entertainments (Amendment) Regulations 2024.
Furthermore, a licensee or responsible person may be absent for less than 14-days if operations could be delegated to a 'suitably qualified' and experienced individual, and the absentee is contactable during the period they are away.
The changes have come about following feedback gathered in a public consultation and from engaging with the Isle of Man Licensing Forum which 'demonstrated the licenced hospitality industry requires a more flexible approach to enable businesses to thrive and stay open'.
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