URCA is responsible for collecting a number of fees from licensees.
These fees include URCA fees, spectrum fees, the Communications Licence fee and the Tribunal fee. All of
these fees, other than the URCA fee, are passed on to third parties.
URCA does not have the power to refund money that has been passed on or that is held on behalf of another body.
URCA may consider refunding all or part of a licensee’s URCA fees if the licence is revoked as the
result of a change in a policy objective under the Licensing Guidelines.
Any refunds are likely to be up to an amount equal to the prepaid URCA fee that can be apportioned to a term of the licence that was not due to expire.
For example, if a licensee pays its annual URCA fee for a period from January to the end of December and its licence is revoked at the end of March due to a change in a policy objective, then if considered equitable, URCA may grant a refund up to 75 percent of the licensee’s prepaid annual URCA fee.
It is irrelevant whether the licence was due to expire after one year or 15 years, URCA will generally only return fees in respect of the unexpired prepaid term.
If a licence is revoked as the result of a sanction, insolvency or non-usage, then generally the
licensee will not be entitled to a refund.
These are matters that are considered to be within the control of the licensee and, as such, the licensee will not be entitled to compensation or repayment of prepaid fees if their licence is revoked.
There may also be instances where a transaction might be processed more than once through our Licensing Portal.
In those instances where a credit card is used to make a payment, a refund will take 10-14 business days to return to the card.
Licensees that consider that they may be entitled to a refund should apply to URCA for the refund at finance@urcabahamas.bs.