# The Licensing Act 2003 (Descriptions of Entertainment) (Amendment) Order 2013, Note: Explanatory note


(This note is not part of the Order)
The Licensing Act 2003 (c. 17) (“the Act”) provides a unified framework for the regulation of a number of specified activities, including the provision of regulated entertainment. A person may not carry on a specified activity otherwise than under and in accordance with an authorisation. Schedule 1 to the Act is concerned with what constitutes the provision of regulated entertainment.
Article 2 of this Order amends the descriptions of entertainment in paragraph 2 of Schedule 1 to the Act so that an authorisation for an indoor sporting event or a performance of a play or dance may be required only when the audience exceeds a specified number or the entertainment does not take place between 8am and 11pm on any day. Authorisation may also be needed if a performance of dance is “relevant entertainment” within the meaning of paragraph 2A of Schedule 3 to the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 and is not exempt by virtue of paragraph 11A to Schedule 1 of the Act.
The effect of the amendments made by articles 3 and 4 of this Order to definitions in Part 3 of Schedule 1 to the Act is to make clear that a contest, exhibition or display which combines boxing or wrestling with one or more martial arts (a “combined fighting sport”) is licensable under the Act as a boxing or wrestling entertainment rather than an indoor sporting event.
The transitional provisions in article 5 ensure that, to the extent that a boxing or wrestling entertainment or a combined fighting sport has been authorised as an indoor sporting event, that authorisation (with any conditions that relate to that contest, exhibition or display) continues after this Order takes effect, but is treated as authorising that contest, exhibition or display as a boxing or wrestling entertainment.
A full impact assessment as to the effect that this Order and other proposals to amend the way that entertainment is regulated under the Act will have on the costs of business, the voluntary sector and the public sector is available on the Government website (https://www.gov.uk/).
This impact assessment is also published with the Explanatory Memorandum alongside this Order at www.legislation.gov.uk.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2013/9780111538609/note (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/draft-licensing-act-2003-descriptions-of-entertainment-amendment-order-2013/note
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.