Your licence file: what to have ready

The licence file

• Every licence you hold, with its number, the body that issued it, its conditions and its renewal date. Q14
• Every approval and permission that your premises or your activity depends on. Q14 Para 6.28
• Proof of fees paid, and any amount still owed to a licensing or permitting body. Para 6.28
• Any application still waiting for a decision: what you applied for, when, and what you were last asked to supply. Para 6.28
• For any concession or exemption you rely on, the approval addressed to your business and its supporting documents, not just the general rule. The paper says a general statement of eligibility cannot stand in for a business-specific approval. Para 6.11
• Contracts that would still be running if a new law takes effect, such as leases and service agreements, with their end dates. Q14

The systems file

The paper proposes that public bodies settle access, retention and continuity before any of their systems change. Para 8.15 Para 4.15 Our advice: be able to answer the same questions about your own.

• A list of the systems the business runs on: email, accounting, point of sale, shared files, phones and cameras.
• Who can get into each one, and how access is removed when someone leaves. DPA s.53
• How long you keep each kind of record, and where it is kept.
• Where the backup is, and the date of the last restore you tested. DPA s.53
• Who handles your data for you: IT provider, payroll bureau, cloud host and web developer, with the written contract for each. DPA s.52
• How you would reach customers, staff and the bank with power or internet down for a week. Para 4.24 Q25
• A second copy of both files, kept somewhere other than the office. Two is one, and one is none.

A conversation

If you would like a hand putting the systems file together, we are in Freeport and glad to help.

• The Grand Bahama Green Paper: what it means for a Freeport business
• The Bahamas Data Protection Act 2025: a readiness guide