TRADE (LICENSING) ACT.

(a) "general business area" means an area of any city, municipality or town declared under section 3 to be a general business area for the purposes of this Act;

(b) "hawker" means a person who, whether on his or her own account or as the servant of another person, sells goods by retail other than in trading premises or in a market established under the Markets Act;

(d) "owner" includes occupier;

(e) "prescribed" means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister under this Act;

(f) "sell", with its grammatical variants and cognate expressions, includes to offer for sale and to expose for sale and their grammatical variants and cognate expressions;

(g) "sell goods wholesale" means to sell goods to a person or the servant of the person who is reasonably believed by the seller to intend to resell the goods by retail;

(h) "trade" or "trading" means the selling of goods for which a licence under this Act is required, in any trading premises, whether by retail or wholesale;

(i) "trading premises" includes any structure attached to the land, whether of a permanent or temporary nature, except a market established under the Markets Act, in which trade is carried on;

(j) "travelling wholesaler" means a person who, whether on his or her own account or as the servant of another person, sells goods by wholesale other than in trading premises.

TRADING CENTRES.

2. Declaration of trading centres.

(1) The Minister responsible for local administrations and urban authorities may, by statutory order—

(a) declare any specified area in Uganda, other than an area declared a trading centre by an administration of a district, to be a trading centre for the purposes of this Act;

(b) assign a name to the trading centre;

(d) alter the boundaries of any trading centre;

(e) declare that any trading centre shall cease to be a trading centre.

(2) Any trading centre declared by an administration of a district before the coming into operation of this Act which has not ceased to be a trading centre shall be deemed to be a trading centre for the purposes of this Act.

(3) Subject to subsection (4), no person may erect any shop or carry on any trade in a shop in any area within a radius of two miles outside the boundary of any trading centre.

(4) The prohibition contained in subsection (3) shall not apply—

(a) to any shop or store which at the commencement of this Act is situated in any area within a radius of two miles outside the boundary of any trading centre; or

(b) to any trade specified in section 8(2).

(5) For the avoidance of doubt, it is declared that, notwithstanding any other provision in any written law to the contrary, on and after the coming into force of this Act, the power to declare any area of Uganda to be a trading centre shall be exercised only by the Minister responsible for local administrations and urban authorities.

RESTRICTION ON TRADE.

3. Declaration of business areas and trading centres.

The Minister may, from time to time, by statutory order, declare—

(a) any area of any city, municipality or town or any part of that area to be a general business area for the purposes of this Act;

(b) any trading centre to be an area in which a person who is not a citizen of Uganda is prohibited from trading.

4. Declaration of specified goods.

The Minister may, from time to time, by statutory order, declare any particular goods or goods of any particular class to be specified goods for the purposes of this Act.

5. Restriction on trading by noncitizens in certain areas and goods.

(1) Subject to subsection (3), it shall not be lawful for any person who is not a citizen of Uganda—

(a) to trade outside any city, municipality or town;

(b) to trade in any trading centre in respect of which an order made under section 3(b) is in force;

(c) to trade in any area of any city, municipality or town which has not been declared, under section 3, a general business area; or

(d) to trade in specified goods which are not endorsed on his or her licence.

(2) Subject to subsection (3), it shall not be lawful for any person—

(a) who is a citizen of Uganda to trade either directly or indirectly on behalf of any person who is not a citizen of Uganda whether under a licence granted to that citizen of Uganda or in any other way; or

(b) who is not a citizen of Uganda to engage or allow a person who is a citizen of Uganda to trade either directly or indirectly on his or her behalf, whether under a licence granted to that citizen of Uganda or in any other way,

in any area or goods in which that person is, under this Act, prohibited from trading.

(3) Subsections (1) and (2) shall not apply to a company or a firm composed partly of persons who are citizens of Uganda and partly of persons who are not citizens of Uganda if the company or, in the case of a firm, its firm name, was registered as such in Uganda on or before the first day of January, 1969.

6. Date of commencement of an order under section 3 or 4.

An order made under section 3 or 4 shall specify the date on which it shall come into force, so however, that that date shall not be more than six months commencing with the date of the publication of the order in the Gazette.

7. Offences and penalties.

Every person who contravenes any provision of section 5 commits an offence and is liable to a fine not exceeding 10,000 shillings or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding 12 months or to both.

TRADING LICENCE.

8. Trading prohibited without a trading licence.

(1) Subject to subsection (2), no person shall trade in any goods or carry on any business specified in the Schedule to this Act unless he or she is in possession of a trading licence granted to him or her for that purpose under this Act.

(2) No trading licence shall be required in any event for—

(a) the trade of a planter, farmer, gardener, dairyperson or agriculturist in respect of the sale of his or her own dairy or agricultural produce;

(b) the trade of a person in respect of goods bona fide made by him or her by his or her handicraft in or on any premises where he or she normally resides, or by the handicraft of persons normally residing with him or her or who are his or her employees or members of his or her family;

(d) the sale of tobacco, cigarettes, newspapers, books, nonintoxicating liquor or playing cards by the management of a proprietary or members club to its members in the club premises;

(e) any other trade which the Minister may, by statutory instrument, declare to be a trade for which no trading licence is required under this Act; or

(f) any trade or business in respect of which a separate licence is required by or under any written law.

9. Licensing authority.

For the purposes of granting a trading licence or hawkers licence under this Act—

(a) in any city, municipality or town, other than an administration town, the licensing authority shall be the town clerk of the respective council;

(b) in any area, other than the areas specified in paragraph (a), the licensing authority shall be such person as may be appointed for that purpose by the appropriate administration of a district.

10. Application for trading licence.

(1) An application for a trading licence shall be made, on such form as may be prescribed, to the appropriate licensing authority.

(2) Any person who makes any statement in his or her application for a trading licence which is to his or her knowledge untrue commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding 5,000 shillings or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding 12 months or to both.

(3) Where a person is convicted of an offence under this section, the court by or before which he or she is convicted may, in addition to any penalty that it may impose, order that the trading licence of that person shall be revoked or that the person shall be disqualified from holding any trading licence under this Act for such period as the court may specify in the order.

11. Grant of trading licence.

(1) Subject to this Act, a licensing authority may, on application made to it in the prescribed manner and on payment of the appropriate fee specified in the Schedule to this Act, grant to the applicant a trading licence.

(2) A trading licence—

(a) shall be in the prescribed form;

(b) shall be granted subject to such conditions as may be prescribed; and

(3) The licensing authority may refuse to grant a trading licence under this section without assigning any reason for the refusal, and may revoke any licence granted under this section if it is satisfied that any of the terms and conditions upon which the licence was granted has been contravened.

(4) Any applicant who is aggrieved by the refusal of the licensing authority to grant him or her a trading licence may appeal to the Minister whose decision shall be final.

12. Disqualifications for holding a trading licence.

A licensing authority shall not issue a trading licence to any person—

(a) who is disqualified from holding a trading licence under an order made by the court under section 10(3), or under the corresponding provisions of the Act repealed by this Act;

(b) who has not attained the apparent age of 18 years unless that person undertakes, to the satisfaction of the licensing authority, to trade in partnership with one or more persons all of whom have attained the apparent age of 18 years; or

13. Duration of trading licence.

Unless earlier revoked, a trading licence granted under this Act in respect of any year shall expire on the 31st"> day of December of that year.

14. Exhibition of trading licence.

Every holder of a trading licence shall keep his or her licence exhibited in a conspicuous place of his or her trading premises.

15. Inspection of trading licence.

(1) Any administrative officer, police officer, licensing authority, or any person authorised in writing by the licensing authority, may at all reasonable times enter—

(a) any trading premises in respect of which a trading licence has been granted for the purpose of inspecting the trading licence and of satisfying himself or herself that the provisions of this Act are being complied with; or

(b) any premises in respect of which a trading licence has not been granted under this Act but in which he or she has reasonable grounds to believe there is carried on a trade for which a trading licence is required under this Act,

and may require the owner of the premises to furnish him or her with any information he or she may deem necessary.

(2) The owner of any premises to which subsection (1) applies shall provide all necessary assistance and furnish all necessary information as any administrative officer, police officer, licensing authority or a person authorised in writing by the licensing authority may deem necessary for the discharge of his or her duties under that subsection.

(3) Any person who obstructs or hinders, or knowingly makes a false declaration or gives any false information to any administrative officer, police officer, licensing authority or a person authorised in writing by the licensing authority in the performance of his or her duties under subsection (1) commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding 2,000 shillings or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding six months or to both.

HAWKERS LICENCE.

16. Grant of hawkers licence.

(1) No person shall act as a hawker unless he or she is in possession of a valid hawkers licence granted to him or her for that purpose by the licensing authority.

(2) A licensing authority may, on application made to it in the prescribed manner and on payment of the appropriate fee specified in the Schedule to this Act, grant to the applicant a hawkers licence.

(3) A hawkers licence shall be in such form as may be prescribed and shall be granted subject to such conditions as to—

(a) the kind of goods which may be hawked;

(b) the area within which the hawking shall be restricted;

(c) the hours during which the goods may be hawked, and such other conditions as the licensing authority may think fit to impose.

(4) Where any person employs a servant to hawk goods on his or her behalf, he or she shall take out, in his or her own name, a licence to be carried by the servant when so employed; and where it is desired that more servants than one shall be so employed, an additional licence shall be taken out in respect of each additional servant.

(5) Subject to subsection (6), no hawkers licence shall be required in respect of any person who acts as a hawker of—

(a) fish, poultry, vegetables, eggs, fruit, victuals, firewood or newspapers;

(b) any goods bona fide made by his or her

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