How Early to Apply, and Exactly Which Documents Each Licence Needs
September 19, 2026
10 min read
DITEC Experts, Radiation Protection Team, ALDuha Institute for Training and Environmental Consulting
The application is not the start date
Most delays facilities complain about are not the authority being slow. They are an application filed at the moment the work was meant to begin, for a licence type the Regulation says should have been applied for months earlier. Article 16 does not set one deadline. It sets six, and they range from one day to four months.
Article 8 states the rule they all serve: the application is submitted on the prescribed form to obtain the licence needed for the work, the practice or the possession of the radioactive source - before commencing any of it.
Executive Regulation, Article 16 - how far in advance
| The licence | The lead time in the text |
|---|---|
| Personal | Not less than two weeks before the date on which the applicant wishes to begin work |
| Site | Three months before the date on which the institution wishes to obtain that licence |
| Facility | Between one month for small institutions and four months for large ones - before the date the institution wishes to begin construction and installation |
| Practice | Two months before the date on which the institution wishes to begin using the facility and operating the radiation devices in it |
| Import, export or transport - long half-life | At least one week before the date of the intended activity - for long half-life material used for non-medical purposes |
| Import or transport - short half-life, medical | At least one day before the expected date of receipt; in cases of extreme necessity the application may be submitted on the same day the institution expects to receive the radioactive material |
How to read that table against a real project
The four institutional rows are consecutive, not parallel. The site licence is applied for three months ahead; the facility licence is applied for only after the site licence is held; the practice licence only after the facility exists. A large facility that counts backwards from the day it wants to operate is looking at the better part of a year of licensing steps, not four months.
Article 14 confirms the dependency for the facility stage: the application is made after the site licence has been obtained, to obtain a licence to build a new radiation facility, or to authorise the use of radioactive materials or sources in existing facilities, or both together.
One route sits outside all of this. Article 13 provides that the licensing procedures for major nuclear facilities - research reactors, nuclear power plants, nuclear fuel plants and the like - are issued by a decision of the President, not by the general procedure above.
The documents, licence by licence
Article 17 obliges the applicant to attach specific documents to the prescribed form. They differ by licence type, and an application missing one of them is returned: Article 14 ends by giving the General Secretariat the right to return licence applications to the persons or institutions concerned so that they may complete what is missing, or make the modifications or additions it considers necessary, before the recommendation to grant the licence is put to the Secretary-General.
Executive Regulation, Article 17
For the personal licence
- The applicant's curriculum vitae, covering the progression of qualifications, the progression of posts held, and experience
- An approved medical report on the applicant's state of health and medical history
- A report on the qualification process (study, courses, workshops) the applicant has completed for work in the field in which the licence is sought
- Any other documents the General Secretariat considers necessary in order to complete and verify the information
For the site licence
- A report on the nature and scale of the radiation work to be carried out at the site to be licensed
- A report on the site's geological structure, the potential natural resources, the land plans and the facility's position on them, and a preliminary engineering drawing of the facility
- A report on the expected size of the workforce at the site, their specialisations, qualifications and experience
- A report on the supporting services and their availability, and on the emergency and physical protection plans for the facility to be built at the site
For the facility licence
- A detailed report on the facility to be built, including the engineering drawings and designs, and the places where the devices and radioactive materials will be used and stored
- A report on the devices and materials intended for use in the facility, and the extent of their conformity with radiation protection principles and the technical specifications approved by the Council
- A report on the radiation protection systems and requirements in the facility
- A report on the nature and volume of radioactive waste expected at the facility, its chemical composition and physical state, and the methods of handling and disposing of it
For the practice licence
- A detailed report on the activity to be carried out at the facility - operation, management, use, trade, handling, manufacture, research and the like
- A detailed report on the volume and type of radiation level of the materials and radioactive sources to be used
- A report on the effect on the environment of the practice for which the licence is sought
- A report on the persons who will carry out the radiation work
- A report on the radiation protection system and on personal and environmental dosimetry services
- A report on the emergency plans for the facility in which the practice will take place
Frequently asked questions
Can I apply for the site, facility and practice licences at the same time?
The text treats them as a sequence. Article 14 requires the facility application to be made after the site licence has been obtained, and the lead times in Article 16 are each measured from a different milestone.
We need a short half-life isotope urgently - is there a route?
Article 16 provides for it: at least one day before receipt, and in cases of extreme necessity the application may be submitted on the same day the institution expects to receive the radioactive material. That concession is for short half-life material used for medical purposes.
What makes a facility large rather than small?
Article 16 uses the distinction to set one month against four, without defining it numerically in that article. In practice the scale of the radiation work described under Article 17 is what the General Secretariat reads it from.
Does a returned application restart the clock?
Article 14 measures the one-month decision period from the date the application is referred to the Secretary-General. An application returned for completion has not yet reached that point.
How the Institute can help
The next article covers what happens after the decision: the one-month right of appeal, the five grounds on which a licence is cancelled, what you must notify before it happens, and why you cannot simply give a source away.
Related services: assembling the licence file - the safety assessment, the radiation protection programme, the emergency plan, and review of engineering drawings.
Scope of what the Institute does: training and consulting. Field radiation surveys are carried out through specialist partners working in the field. The Institute does not carry out laboratory analysis, instrument calibration or equipment testing.
This explanation is published for awareness by the radiation protection team at ALDuha Institute for Training and Environmental Consulting. The English text is an explanation, not a certified translation: the Arabic text published in the Official Gazette governs in case of any difference, and this article does not replace the official text or advice from the competent authority. Last updated 19 September 2026.