Permit vs License
Permit and license are common words that are used in our daily lives. Workers get permits or permission to work in an industry or abroad while license is required by licensing authorities in many businesses to start operations. There was a time in India when the bureaucracy was infamous for its license and permit Raj, creating red tapism and artificial hurdles for people requiring licenses and permits. The two words are not synonymous though, as many believe, and as such they cannot and should not be used interchangeably. This article attempts to highlight the differences between permit and license.
License
It is easy to understand the meaning of a license with the help of a driver’s license. All of us require obtaining a driver’s license to be allowed to drive a motor vehicle on the road. This license is obtained by us or rather granted by traffic authorities. Thus, license is permission to drive a vehicle on the road while the paper document with an official seal is the noun of the word license. Along these lines are business licenses that an aspiring businessman is required to obtain if he desires to start a particular business in a state inside the country.
A business license is a necessity as it grants permission as well as allows government or authorities to keep an eye on the business and the businessman by way of regulation and taxes that are applied from time to time. There are many different types of licenses. However, the philosophy behind a license is always the intention to regulate the activity while permitting an individual to do something.
Permit
If one looks up in a dictionary, he finds that a permit is defined using the word license and it is permission or legal authorization to do a particular activity. It is also a noun that refers to the legal document that a person must have in possession before he starts a particular business or an activity. There is motorcycle permit that is a restricted license as it requires the holder to have an older person sit behind him while riding a motorcycle on the road. Upon reaching the age of 18, the same person who had a driver’s permit becomes eligible to obtain a driver’s license. A person may have the license to do pest control business, yet he may be required to obtain permits to keep certain chemicals on his premises and also to be able to make use of these chemicals.
In trucker’s business, permit is required by operators to load and transport certain objects and also to be able to go beyond certain limits.
What is the difference between Permit and License?
• There is very little difference between a license and a permit as both require permission from authorities to carry on certain activities or business.
• Permits are restrictive and temporary in nature whereas licenses are permanent.
• Permits require occasional inspection and safety regulations and a person may be required to obtain permits even after obtaining a license to start a business.
• A driver’s license s a classic example of a license that makes a person eligible to drive a car on the road whereas a driver’s permit imposes a restriction upon a person to have an older person sit behind him on the motorcycle until he becomes eligible to drive a car or motorcycle on his own.