Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1694500293782.pdf (Antigua and Barbuda)
LAWS OF ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA Franchises (Registration and Control) (CAP.

182A 1 CHAPTER 182A T H E FRANCHISES (REGISTRATION AND C O N T R O L ) A C T Arrangement of Sections Section 1.

Short title.

2.

Interpretation.

3.

Application for and objection to licence.

4.

Grant of licence.

5.

Conditions of licence.

6.

Register of licence.

7.

Change of address to be notified.

8. Business conducted at more than one address.

9.

Duplicate licence.

10.

Renewal and surrender of licence.

11.


Suspension of licence.

12.

Minister's decision final.

13.

Inspectors.

14.

Delegation of powers.

15.

Recovery of unpaid fees.

16.

Offences.

1 7 .

Power to amend Schedule.

18.

Regulations.

19.

Expenses.

20.

Other enactments not affected.

2 1.

Exemptions.

SCHEDULE.

LAWS OF ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA Franchises (Registration and Control) (CAP.
182A 3 FRANCHISES (REGISTRATION AND C O N T R O L ) An Act to provide for the licensing, registration and control of businesses which operate on franchise in Antigua and Barbuda and for matters related thereto.

(21st February, 1991 .)

1.

This Act may be cited as the Franchises (Regis- Short title.

tration and Control) Act.

2.

In this Act- ' 'citizen" includes Interpretation.
(a) a dependant of a citizen, (b) a firm in which the partners who are citizens have a right to more than one half of the assets or income of the firm, or ( 6 ) a company that is controlled by individuals who are citizens or by a combination of one or more such individuals or companies; "franchise" means- (a) a right granted in writing by the owner of a mark, product, service, technique or device to another person to use the mark, product, service, technique or device whether or not the mark, product, service, tech- nique or device is protected by a trade mark or trade secret, or by usage; and (b) a licence to use a copyright, an industrial design or an invention; 6' Inspector" means a person assigned by the Minister under section 13 to be an inspector for purposes of this Act; "Minister" means the Minister responsible for Finance.
3.

(1) Subject to this section- Application for and objection to licence.

LAWS OF ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA 4 CAP.


182A) Franchises (Registration and Control) ( a ) No person shall operate a business in Antigua and Barbuda using the mark, product, service, tech- nique, device, copyright, industrial design or invention of another person; and ( b ) no person, other than a citizen shall operate a business in Antigua and Barbuda using his own mark, product, service, technique, device, copyright, industrial design or invention.
(2) Any person- ( a ) who wishes to operate a business in Antigua and Barbuda on franchise; or ( 6 ) who not being a citizen, wishes to operate a business in Antigua and Barbuda using his own mark, product, service, technique, design or invention; shall before he commences business, obtain from the Minister a licence for the purpose.
(3) Where on commencement of this Act- ( a ) any person is operating a business on franchise; or ( b ) any person other than a citizen is operating a business using his own mark, product, service, tech- nique, device, copyright, industrial design or invention; without a licence from the Minister and continues to do so he shall, not later than three months after the commence- ment of this subsection, obtain from the Minister a licence for the purpose.
(4) Any person who not being the holder of a franchise is on the commencement of this Act operating a business using the mark, product, service, technique, device, copyright, industrial design or invention of another person and continues to do so shall- ( a ) within three months after the commencement of this Act, obtain a franchise from the other person for the purpose; ( b ) within three months after obtaining the fran- chise referred to in paragraph ( a ) obtain from the Minister a licence for the purpose.
LAWS OF ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA Franchises (Registration and Control) (CAP.

182A 5 (5) An application for a licence under this section- ( a ) must be in writing; ( b ) must, where the applicant is not the owner of the mark, product, service, technique, device, copyright, industrial design or invention, that he is using or wishes to use, be accompanied by a notarised copy of the franchise; (c) shall be addressed to the Minister; and (6) shall be in such form as the Minister determines.
(6) The Minister shall on receipt of an application under subsection (2), cause a notice inviting objections to the issue of a licence to be published in the OffiGial Gazette and one issue of a local newspaper, and the notice shall state the period during which the objection may be made.

(7) An objection shall be in such form as the Minister determines and shall specify the reasons for objection.

4.

The Minister shall consider the application together Grant of licence.
with any objections to the issue of a licence in respect of such application and in so doing may- (a) require the applicant and the objector to appear before him to be interviewed; and ( 6 ) require such other information in writing from the applicant or the objector as he considers necessary, and may issue to the applicant on payment by him of the appropriate fee set out in paragraph 1 of the Schedule a Schedule.

licence under this Act 5.

A licence under this Act shall- Conditions of licence.
( a ) be in such form as the Minister determines; ( b ) not, be transferable; (c) subject to section 10 (2) be valid for a period not exceeding one year; and (6) be subject to the conditions specified therein.

LAWS OF ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA 6 CAP.

182A) Franchises (Registration and Control) Register of licence.

6.
6.

(1) The Minister shall cause to be kept a register in which there is recorded- (a) the name and address of each person to whom a licence is issued; (6) the type of business in respect of which such licence is issued; (c) the number of the licence; (d) the address at which the business is conducted.

(2) The register shall at all reasonable times be open to inspection at the Ministry responsible for trade.

7.
7.

The holder of a licence shall within fourteen days of any change of address or of the address at which the business is being conducted notify the fact of such change to the Minister who shall cause such change to be effected in the register.

8.
8.

Where- ( a ) an applicant for a licence intends to conduct business at more than one address, he shall inform the Minister of each address at which the business is to be conducted; and (6) the holder of a licence desires to conduct business at an address additional to that at which he at present conducts business, he shall apply to the Minister in writing for permission to do so and the Minister shall specify the address at which he may conduct such business.

Change of address to be notified.


Business conducted at more than one address.

Duplicate licence.

Schedule.

9.

Where a licence under this Act has been lost, destroyed or defaced the Minister may on application made to him and on payment of the fee set out in paragraph 2 of the Schedule issue a duplicate licence for the unexpired portion of the term for which the original licence was issued.

Renewal and surrender of licence.

10.


(1) Where a licence issued under this Act has expired, the Minister may, on application made to him and on payment of the licence fee set out in paragraph 3 of the - 5 1 - A LAWS OF ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA Franchises (Registration and Control) (CAP.

182A 7 : Schedule renew such licence for a period not exceeding one year.
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, the holder of a licence may at any time surrender such licence and from the date of such surrender any business in respect of which such licence was issued shall cease to operate for the purposes of this Act.

1 .

Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act Suspension of licence.
the Minister may where the holder of a licence- ( a ) has been convicted of a criminal offence in Antigua and Barbuda; ( b ) has outside of Antigua and Barbuda been con- victed of an offence which is punishable in Antigua and Barbuda on indictment; (c) is deceased, bankrupt or incapable of carrying on the business in respect of which the licence was issued; or (6) has contravened or failed to comply with any of the provisions of the licence; suspend or cancel the licence.

12.
12.

A decision of the Minister under this Act shall E;f;z';inal be final.

13.

(1) The Minister shall have all powers that are lnSpectors~ necessary and incidental to the proper carrying out of the provisions of this Act and the regulations and he may assign such public officers as he thinks fit as inspectors to assist him in the exercise of such powers.

(2) The powers exercisable by inspectors under this Act shall be deemed to have been conferred on them by the Minister.
(3) An inspector under this Act may on production of authority in writing signed by the Minister enter premises where a business is being operated on franchise to examine the licence and the owner or person in charge of the business shall allow him to examine the licence.

LAWS OF ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA 8 CAP.

182A) Franchises (Rezistration and Control) Delegation of powers.

Recovery of unpaid fees.

14.


The Minister may, without prejudice to the exer- cise by him of the powers conferred herein, by order delegate any of those powers to any person specified in the order.

15.

Any fees which remain unpaid after the expir- ation of one month after they become due and payable under this Act may be recovered as a debt due to the Crown in civil proceedings before a magistrate.

Offences.

16.
(1) Any person who- ( a ) contravenes subsection (I), (2), ( 3 ) , or ( 4 ) of section 3 , or ( 6 ) uses any mark, product, service, technique, device, copyright, industrial design or invention that so nearly resembles a mark, product, service, technique, device, copyright, industrial design or invention, as to be likely to mislead the public, is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine of fifteen thousand dollars or imprisonment for one year; and in addition to such fine or imprisonment is liable to a further fine of one thousand five hundred dollars per day for every day during which the offence continues after conviction is first obtained.
(2) Where a body corporate commits an offence under subsection (1), in addition to the penalties thereunder, every director of any such body corporate who knew, or could reasonably be expected to have known, of the contravention or use is guilty of an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of fifteen thousand dollars or to imprison- ment for one year.
(3) Any person who- ( a ) assaults, resists, obstructs or intimidates an inspector or other authorised person in the performance of his functions under this Act; (b) interferes with or hinders an inspector or other authorised person in the performance of his functions under this Act; (c) by any gratuity, bribe, promise or other induce- ment prevents or attempts to prevent an inspector or LAWS OF ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA Franchises (Registration and Control) ( C A P .
182A 9 other authorised person from performing his functions under this Act; or (6) contravenes any provision of this Act for which no penalty has been provided, or of the regulations, is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine of ten thousand dollars.

17.

The Minister may by order amend the Schedule.

Power to amend Schedule.

18.

T h e Minister may make regulations for carrying Regulations.

into effect the provisions of this Act.

19.


Any expenses incurred in the administration of Expenses.

this Act shall be defrayed out of moneys voted for the pur- pose by Parliament.

20.

For the avoidance of doubt it is declared that other enactments not affected.
nothing in this Act shall be construed as affecting ( a ) any right conferred upon any person, ( b ) any remedy or other relief available to an aggrieved person, or ( c ) any obligation or penalty that may be imposed upon any person, by o r under any enactment relating to copyright, industrial designs, patents or trade marks, or by or under any rule of common law.

2 1.

The Minister may, by order, exempt any business Exemptions.

from the application of this Act.

SCHEDULE LICENCE FEES 1.

2.


For issue of original licence ................. $10,000.00 For issue of duplicate licence ............... 250.00 3.

For renewal of licence ........................ 5,000.00