Licensing Team - About Us

The Licensing Team handles requests to reproduce our copyright material and we can issue licences for both commercial and non-commercial re-use. If you are not sure whether you need our permission, please contact us for advice. We are always happy to help.

We encourage you to use our material for new purposes. We do not restrict your re-use of UKHO material, though your reproduction must be included in an appropriate licence agreement. If our existing licence agreements do not cover your purpose, we may amend an existing licence agreement or we may develop a new licence agreement to cover the purpose.

We will treat the following information that you provide to us as "Confidential", unless such information is legitimately available to third parties. We may pass information about your application to the custodian organisations if it is appropriate, but will not otherwise discuss your application outside of the Intellectual Property Section without your express permission.

• Your private residential address if you are entering into this Agreement in a personal capacity
• The existence of this Agreement prior to first publication of your product
• All sales and financial information
• Any information you send us which is marked ‘confidential’.

The UKHO is a government Trading Fund and part of the Ministry of Defence. Our primary activity is the provision of navigational products and services to the Royal Navy and the merchant marine in compliance with Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Regulations. We receive no direct financial support from central government so we must operate in a business-like manner as cost-effectively as possible. To remain an effective long-term supplier of safety information we make revenue from the sale and licensing of our products and services. This must cover the full costs of creating and maintaining the information.

• How long will the licence application process take?

  FAQ Topic: General

  If you apply for a non-commercial or low-value licence online, the licence application process should take between 10 and 30 minutes to complete depending on the speed of your connection and how many of our products you want to reproduce.

  If we process your application for a non-commercial or low value licence, it will take us up to 7 working days to send you a licence agreement.

  Commercial applications will usually take up to 20 working days for us to process and offer you a licence agreement. If your application is particularly complicated, this may take longer. We will give you an estimate of the time-scale once we receive your application.

• When can I start copying the material?

  FAQ Topic: General

  You can start copying the material for non-commercial or low value purposes once you receive an email from us attaching your full licence agreement through the online licensing system.

  You can start copying the material for commercial purposes once a signed licence agreement is in place, which has been signed both by you and by us.

• How does UKHO perform against the target times and how many licences does UKHO grant?

  FAQ Topic: General

  Please see this document regarding the UKHO Licensing Activity.

• Can I use a chart extract in my thesis, college report or school work?

  FAQ Topic: Non Commercial

  Please refer to The Copyright Licensing Agency | A Solution to Use Content Legally (cla.co.uk) who can provide educational institutions with the comprehensive coverage and rights that staff and students need to be able to use and share published information without the fear and cost of infringing copyright. Their licences have been developed specifically to meet particular needs across the sector and they can offer specific solutions for schools, colleges and universities, whether public or independent.

  • JISC website which offers a national collection of online resources for education and research, including an interactive tool to help make sense of copyright as well as provide resources to manage rights.
  • One of the UKHO’s licensees called SeaZone has sub-licensed Higher Education Funding Council For England (HEFCE) to access and use Marine Data (Marine Digimap) to the Authorised Institutions for Educational purposes. EDINA is funded by the Higher Education funding councils Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), to provide national online services for universities and colleges to offer to their academic staff and students. JISC through Edina offer access to marine mapping through the following links:
    • http://www.jisc-collections.ac.uk/Catalogue/Overview/Index/53
    • http://edina.ac.uk/about/
• Can I use a chart extract as part of my teaching material?

  FAQ Topic: Non Commercial

  Please refer to The Copyright Licensing Agency | A Solution to Use Content Legally (cla.co.uk) who can provide educational institutions with the comprehensive coverage and rights that staff and students need to be able to use and share published information without the fear and cost of infringing copyright. Their licences have been developed specifically to meet particular needs across the sector and they can offer specific solutions for schools, colleges and universities, whether public or independent.

  • JISC website which offers a national collection of online resources for education and research, including an interactive tool to help make sense of copyright as well as provide resources to manage rights.
  • One of the UKHO’s licensees called SeaZone has sub-licensed Higher Education Funding Council For England (HEFCE) to access and use Marine Data (Marine Digimap) to the Authorised Institutions for Educational purposes. EDINA is funded by the Higher Education funding councils Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), to provide national online services for universities and colleges to offer to their academic staff and students. JISC through Edina offer access to marine mapping through the following links:
    • http://www.jisc-collections.ac.uk/Catalogue/Overview/Index/53
    • http://edina.ac.uk/about/
• I want access to marine and coastal data for use in geographical information systems?

  FAQ Topic: Non Commercial

  For information on this please contact LicensingTeam@ukho.gov.uk

  Please refer to Copyright Licensing Agency | A Solution to Use Content Legally (cla.co.uk) who can provide educational institutions with the comprehensive coverage and rights that staff and students need to be able to use and share published information without the fear and cost of infringing copyright. Their licences have been developed specifically to meet particular needs across the sector and they can offer specific solutions for schools, colleges and universities, whether public or independent.

  • JISC website which offers a national collection of online resources for education and research, including an interactive tool to help make sense of copyright as well as provide resources to manage rights.
  • One of the UKHO’s licensees called SeaZone has sub-licensed Higher Education Funding Council For England (HEFCE) to access and use Marine Data (Marine Digimap) to the Authorised Institutions for Educational purposes. EDINA is funded by the Higher Education funding councils Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), to provide national online services for universities and colleges to offer to their academic staff and students. JISC through Edina offer access to marine mapping through the following links:
    • http://www.jisc-collections.ac.uk/Catalogue/Overview/Index/53
    • http://edina.ac.uk/about/
• Can I add items to my current copyright licence?

  FAQ Topic: Non Commercial

  If you have obtained a licence online for non-commercial or low-value commercial purposes, you will need to apply again for a new licence agreement as it is not possible to add products to an existing licence. You must ensure that you still meet the Qualifying Criteria for a non-commercial or low-value licence.

• I have returned my draft licence email but an error message appears?

  FAQ Topic: Non Commercial

  The email to accept your draft online licence requires you to cut and paste your licence code into the subject line. If this has not been done an error message will appear. Please reply to the e-mail again, with the licence code in the subject line. Ensure you remove any excess wording in the subject line of return e-mail leaving only licence Acceptance number remaining otherwise this will result in a further error. If you continue to have problems, then please contact us.

• I now have my licence but I need to purchase Tidal or Astronomical & Calendarial material. Where can I buy it from?

  FAQ Topic: Non Commercial

  To purchase UKHO Tidal Data please contact our Tidal Prediction Service.

  To purchase Astronomical & Calendarial Data please contact the HM Nautical Almanac Office.

Still feel like you need to know more information? You can contact us by phone, email or via the Online Enquiry Form (Product Enquiries Only)

You can also visit our Contact Us page where you can provide us with feedback.

We encourage feedback from our customers and we record any incoming comments, both good and bad, for consideration when reviewing our licensing policy. The feedback helps us improve our service to our customers.

Should we fail to meet your expectations and we cannot resolve any issues with you then we have a formal complaint procedure. If you want to make a complaint about licensing our material, please send full details to the following address.

We will let you know we have received your complaint within two working days. We aim to resolve all complaints within no more than three working weeks.

If you are not satisfied with our response to your formal complaint then you should contact our licensing regulator at the address below.