An Post will issue warnings this week to businesses that have not responded to letters sent out last month, requesting them to indicate whether they possess a current TV licence.
To date, there has only been a 20 per cent response rate, out of 150,000 letters issued. "If they haven't responded, we'll be calling," a spokesman for An Post told The Irish Times yesterday.
This is the first time that An Post has carried out an in-depth study of how many TV licences are purchased by businesses, as opposed to domestic users. Any premises in which there is a television requires the owners to possess a TV licence. It doesn't matter what that television is used for.
An Post said its campaign represented a continuing scrutiny of the television licence market and was aimed at "trying to ascertain the licenseability of the business population". It drew on national databases to draw up the list of businesses contacted.
Last year, 1.167 million licences were purchased, the majority of which were by domestic users.
Until now, An Post has had no way of knowing if a licence was being purchased for a home or a business premises, since individual employees would often use their own names when purchasing a licence for a business. The company hopes that information received via the letters, known as letters of declaration, will clarify this matter.
There is no difference in the cost of a TV licence for a domestic household and for a business and one licence covers all televisions in a premises.
The fine for being caught without a licence is €635 for a first offence, rising to a maximum of €1,270 for a second offence.
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