martedì 25 marzo 2014

EN:Private Security Regulation: the European Level

 European Union
   No harmonisation of legislation concerning the private security industry at the European level has yet taken place. UNI-Europa and the Confederation of European Security Services (CoESS) promote minimum requirements at the European level, and have achieved the signature of several joint opinions on aspects such as licensing and vocational training. A code of conduct for the private security sector has also been signed, with the objective of raising standards and guaranteeing a high level of professional ethics in this sector across the European Union. Nevertheless, at present national regulations differ from one country to another and reflect the different cultural environments.

     It is, however, important to stress that the lack of standardised European legislation on private security companies does not necessarily denote a vacuum of relevant rules at the European level. Indeed, European case law provides several examples whereby the Commission of the European Communities has questioned the regulation of PSCs by individual countries on the basis of the principles of freedom of establishment, freedom to provide services and the free movement of persons. In 2003 it was argued in the European Court of Justice that Spanish legislation on private security did not comply with the principles of freedom of establishment and the free movement of services as set out in Articles 43 and 49 of the Treaty.  In another case, the constraints that the Netherlands places on the private security companies that wish to provide services on its territory were considered unjustified by the Commission, and it was claimed that these constraints breached Directives 89/48/EEC and 92/51/EEC on a general system of professional recognition of qualifications. Therefore, in these rulings, the European Court of Justice has established its competence over matters related to the private security industry, as it is considered an economic sector of the EU and therefore falls under the regulation of the internal market.
    Whilst it is true that no harmonised legislation yet exists on PSCs at the European level, some areas of the private security industry are more regulated than others. For instance, the providers of airport security fall under the EC regulation establishing common rules in the field of civil aviation security, which therefore contains some rules that directly affect private security personnel. Indeed, the regulation states that all staff requiring access to security-restricted areas will be
subjected to a minimum 5-year background check, and will also receive regular training in aviation security.
     Finally, it is interesting to note that private security companies were excluded from the recent EU Directive for services in internal market. CoESS argued that the specific nature of private security services, in particular its close links to the issue of public security, and the necessity for strict conditions for entering the market (for example the screening of private security employees) necessitates specific exceptions that could not be sufficiently taken into account in the general directive. CoESS has, however, stressed the necessity of achieving a common ground for the regulation of the private security industry. In particular, CoESS has highlighted the fact that an overview of EU member states demonstrated that 'the level of effective security is positively correlated to the level of regulation. This underlines the importance of achieving a harmonisation of the regulation on private security companies at the European level, and in particular the need for high standards at this level. The European dialogue that has taken place in recent years is encouraging, as is for example the recognition by the European Council of the need for greater cooperation between the competent national authorities of member States responsible for the private security sector.
     In terms of the EU external policy, the EU acknowledges that private security companies constitute a part of a state’s security system. Therefore, policies which target PSCs can be included in EU enlargement, integration and external assistance policies. Nevertheless, the EU's most recent communication on security sector reform does not elaborate on how PSCs can be fruitfully targeted.
 Council of Europe

Although the Council of Europe has hardly adopted any regulation specifically on private security companies, it has adopted a wide array of conventions and recommendations which have relevance for the functioning of PSCs in CoE member States. For the most part these conventions and recommendations are related to the protection of human rights and the preservation of the rule of law in CoE member States. In this section these conventions and recommendations will be briefly discussed. It is important to mention that a CoE convention has a binding force for those member States which have ratified the convention. Recommendations, on the other hand, only have an advisory effect.


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