Section 33

Section 33 addresses the mandatory surrender of a licence when it has been suspended or revoked by the Controller under Section 25. The duty is immediate — on suspension or revocation, the CA must surrender the physical licence document to the Controller without delay. This physical surrender serves several purposes. It prevents a CA from continuing to display a suspended or revoked licence on its premises (as required by Section 32(a)), which would create a false impression of continued authorised operation. It also creates a clear administrative record of the licence's end — the physical licence is now in the Controller's custody and cannot be used. In conjunction with Section 26 (publication of suspension or revocation in the database), Section 33's surrender requirement creates a complete paper trail: the Controller holds the surrendered licence, the public database records the suspension or revocation, and the CA is comprehensively stripped of the ability to hold itself out as a licensed operator. For subscribers with active certificates issued by a suspended CA, the certificate status remains determined by the relevant certificate's validity period and the CA's CRL/OCSP — the licence suspension does not automatically invalidate already-issued, valid certificates. However, the suspended CA may not issue new certificates, and the Controller will typically arrange for the CA's existing subscriber base to migrate to another licensed CA.