VC9 wrote
Does it matter who issues the clearance?
I would have thought that you need an ATC licence to issue a clearance along the lines that you need a ATPL to fly for an airline or you need a commercial for CHTR ops.
AFAIK these Flight Data System Clerks are not licenced; they have a certificate to fiddle about with system data only and certainly not to originate clearances directly to aircraft.
The licence itself is no big deal but the training and the responsibilities and the
accountabilities that go along with it are.