To add to the debate, it most certainly IS the responsibility of the pilot to maintain his own licence. In my company, we all had to renew our ATPL's last year as we were issued with JAA licences from a company bulk application five years previously. This time it was our responsibilty and it was made perfectly clear that we had to make a timely application. The company were aware of our expiry dates and we were issued with several written reminders enclosing CAA application forms and even a text message reminder to the company mobile. Really no excuse to get it wrong!