Following EU Exit, a number of changes need to be made to the wording of some of the standard licence conditions (SLCs) that appear on all HFEA licences (both treatment and storage and research).
The changes being made are to remove outdated references to EU directives, and to update text about CE marking, to reflect the post-transition position. Some SLCs will also have differences in their wording depending on whether a clinic is in Great Britain or Northern Ireland.
We are therefore planning a relicensing exercise to update all clinics’ licences before the end of the six month transitional period on 30 June 2021.
The Licence Committee will first consider the proposed variations to all current licences (no application from clinics is necessary), and if approved, the Licensing team will then issue new offer licences to all PRs.
It is important for PRs to acknowledge and accept the new (varied) licences as soon as possible, so please look out for these emails. We plan to begin issuing the offer licences in mid-April, and the new licences will then be finalised and activated prior to 1 July.
Any clinic whose current licence term is running out during this period, who needs to apply for a variation, or who has an additional inspection for any reason, will be contacted directly to ensure you are clear about your licence.
The proposed new SLCs can be found here, alongside the current versions. Please note one further change, related to SLC T21 (to remove the out-of-date reference to CPA (UK) Ltd, in line with the update to UKAS in other licence conditions).
Please contact our Licensing Manager, Catherine.Burwood@HFEA.gov.uk, if you have any queries.