Licences and permits

The permissions a business needs before it can trade, each one tied to the law that creates it and to the body that issues it. We point at GOV.UK for fees and forms, and never copy them.

11 of 426 licences for Chemicals and petroleum

Choose from all 48 activities

C

Cooling tower notification

Cooling tower notification for commercial site owners

Your council · England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

Building and construction · Chemicals and petroleum · Property and real estate +1 more

E

Explosives manufacturing and storage licence (England, Scotland and Wales)

You need a licence to manufacture or store explosives

UK Government · England, Wales and Scotland

Chemicals and petroleum · Firearms, explosives and fireworks

G

Goods vehicle operator licences

You need a goods vehicle operator’s licence if your business uses a goods vehicle with either a gross plated weight (the maximum weight that …

Traffic Commissioners · England, Wales and Scotland

Any trade

L

Licence for loading, unloading, and handling explosives in ports

You need a licence to load, unload, or handle explosives in ports

UK Government · England, Wales and Scotland

Chemicals and petroleum · Firearms, explosives and fireworks

Licence to work with asbestos (England, Wales & Scotland)

You need a licence to work with asbestos in England, Wales and Scotland

UK Government · England, Wales and Scotland

Building and construction · Chemicals and petroleum · Cleaning +1 more

M

Mixing ammonium nitrate (with fuel oil) licence

You need a manufacturing licence to combine ammonium nitrate and fuel oil to create mixtures for use in certain blasting operations

HSE · England, Wales and Scotland

Agriculture: animals · Chemicals and petroleum

P

Pesticide approval

You need approval from the Heath and Safety Executive (HSE) Chemicals Regulation Directorate (CRD) to sell, distribute or store new pesticides in the UK

HSE · England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

Agriculture: crops and plants · Chemicals and petroleum · Environment: management and waste

Petroleum Storage Licence

Your council

England, Wales and Scotland · Northern Ireland

Chemicals and petroleum

R

Radioactive substances authorisations (Scotland)

You need an authorisation from Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) if you keep or use radioactive substances.

Scottish Government · Scotland

Any trade

Radioactive substances waste certificate of authorisation (Northern Ireland)

You need permission to accumulate and dispose of radioactive waste in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland Executive · Northern Ireland

Any trade

U

Using, treating, storing and disposing of waste (England)

You may need an environmental permit if your business uses, recycles, treats, stores or disposes of waste or mining waste.

Environment Agency · England

Any trade

Where GOV.UK lists a licence separately for each nation, it appears here once with a link to each nation's version. They are separate licences in law, often resting on different legislation.

We have not yet mapped an enabling instrument for 2 licences on this list. That is a gap in our graph, not a statement about the law, and those pages say so rather than guessing.

Checking approvals more broadly?

A licence is one of several things you may need before your first day of trading. The pre-trading quick check walks the registrations, insurances and approvals alongside it.

Run the pre-trading quick check

Not sure which of these apply to you?

Our guides on finding a licence and dealing with your local council walk through the questions that decide it.

Find a licence