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Security guard

Latest update: 2020-04-15 17:22:21

1°. Defining the activity

The human surveillance or guarding officer is a professional whose primary mission is to monitor the people and property of a site or building. The officer conducts rounds and screening of persons or vehicles going inside the site and can use electronic means of control. It can also intervene in case of technical malfunction in the enclosure of the place it monitors.

For further information: Article L. 611-1 paragraph 1 of the Code of Homeland Security.

2°. Professional qualifications

a. National requirements

National legislation

Anyone wishing to carry out the activity of caretaker must justify a professional aptitude and hold a professional card issued by the Local Accreditation and Control Commission (CNAC) established within the National Council of Private Security Activities (Cnaps). The issuance of a business card is subject to the following conditions:

  • not having been sentenced to a correctional sentence or a criminal sentence recorded on the no. 2 criminal record or for foreign nationals in an equivalent document, incompatible with the exercise of a criminal activity Private security;
  • justify qualifications required to carry out the human surveillance and guarding activity: followed by training in a training organization authorized by the Cnaps and hold a professional certification registered with the RNCP, justify equivalence under certain conditions (police officers, gendarmes, municipal police, military);
  • for foreign nationals, to hold a residence permit to carry out an activity on the national territory;
  • not be subject to an order of expulsion or ban from the current French territory.

For further information: Section L. 612-20 of the Code of Homeland Security.

Training

Vocational training to justify the professional fitness of a private security officer is subject to an authorization issued by the Cnaps. This decision comes about:

  • before recruiting to a company that protects people. In this case, the person concerned will receive aprior authorisation for access to training 6 months, to be handed over to a training centre (authorized by the Cnaps). Professional certifications that provide the ability to carry out the activity of private security officer are regularly updated. They are registered with the RNCP and appear on the Cnaps website.
  • during hiring. An individual who has entered into an employment contract with a private protection company must apply for aprovisional authorization to be employed valid for 6 months. This authorization does not allow him to hold an A3P position but commits the company to provide him with immediate training to justify his fitness to practice.

Please note

The application for authorisation is made directly online on the Cnaps website.

For further information: Articles L. 612-22 and L. 612-23 of the Code of Homeland Security.

Costs associated with qualification

Training leading to the profession of supervisory and guarding officer may pay off. For more information, it is advisable to get closer to the training organizations dispensing it.

b. EU or EEA nationals: for temporary and occasional exercise (Freedom to provide services)

There are no provisions for a one-time or occasional activity as there are no plans to issue business cards for short periods of time.

For further information: Article R. 612-25 of the Homeland Security Code.

c. EU or EEA nationals: for a permanent exercise (Freedom of establishment)

Any national of an EU or EEA state who is established and legally practises the activity of physical protection officer of persons in that state may carry out the same activity in France on a permanent basis.

He will have to apply for a professional card, which is being studied by the competent territorial delegation and submitted to the territorially competent CLAC (see infra "5o). b. Obtain a business card for the EU or EEA national for a permanent exercise (LE) ").

Where neither the activity nor the training leading to this activity is regulated in the state in which it is legally established, the EU or EEA national will have to justify training in that state and work experience. one or more EU or EEA states at least one year in the last ten years.

If the examination of professional qualifications reveals substantial differences in relation to those required for access to the profession and its practice in France, the person concerned may be subject to a compensation measure (see infra "5°. b. Good to know: compensation measures").

For further information: Articles L. 612-20 and R. 612-24-1 of the Homeland Security Code.

3°.Exercise incompatibility

Human surveillance or guarding activities cannot be cumulatively involved in activities:

  • protecting French ships from threats of a terrorist act or takeover;
  • search for information or information intended for third parties as part of the activity of a private research agent;
  • monitoring of people's political, philosophical or religious views or union affiliations.

For further information: Articles L. 611-1, L. 612-2 and L. 612-4 of the Homeland Security Code.

4°. Continuing education and insurance

a. Obligation to undergo continuing vocational training

The renewal of the professional card is subject to the follow-up of continuous training aimed at maintaining and updating the skills (MAC) of the person concerned. This training, delivered in the form of a Internship 31 hours must take place within 24 months of the card's expiry date.

For further information: Article L. 622-19-1 of the Internal Security Code and Article 4 of the February 27, 2017 Order on The Continuing Training of Private Security Officers.

b. Obligation to take out professional liability insurance

As an independent professional, the supervisory and custodly officer must take out professional liability insurance.

On the other hand, if he practises as an employee, this insurance is only optional. In this case, it is up to the employer to take out such insurance for its employees for the acts carried out during their professional activity.

For further information: Section L. 612-5 of the Code of Homeland Security.

5°. Qualification recognition procedures and formalities

a. Make a declaration for the EU or EEA national for a temporary and casual exercise (LPS)

There are no provisions for temporary or temporary activity.

b. Obtain a business card for the EU or EEA national for a permanent exercise (LE)

Competent authority

The territorially competent CLAC decides on the issuance of the business card as long as the national meets the conditions of attribution.

Supporting documents

To obtain the business card, the national sends a complete file by mail to the territorially competent CLAC. This file must include the following supporting documents:

  • A Form Duly completed and signed;
  • A photocopy of a national's ID
  • A certificate of employment issued by the national's employer or future employer;
  • proof of professional fitness that can be:- a professional certificate registered in the national directory of professional certifications,
    • a certificate of professional qualification developed by its professional branch,
    • a certificate of competency or training certificate issued by an EU or EEA state that regulates the activity of custodian in its territory, and including the details and duration of the modules of the training followed,
    • proof by any means that the national has been engaged in this activity, full-time or part-time, in the last ten years when neither professional activity nor training is regulated in the EU or EEA State.

What to know

Supporting documents must be written in French or translated by a certified translator, if necessary.

Duration and renewal

The business card is issued in the dematerialized form of a registration number, and remains valid for five years. Any change in employment status will have to be notified to the CLAC but does not result in the mandatory renewal of the card. At the end of these five years, the professional will be able to apply for renewal three months before the expiry date provided that he submits a certificate of continuing education (see supra "4o). (a) Obligation to undergo continuing vocational training").

Outcome of the procedure

Once the national has obtained the registration number of the CLAC territorially competent, he will have to pass it on to his employer who will issue him the final professional card.

Good to know: compensation measures

In order to carry out his activity in France or to enter the profession, the national may be required to submit to a compensation measure, which may be:

  • an adaptation course of up to three years
  • an aptitude test carried out within six months of notification to the person concerned.

For further information: Articles L. 612-20, L. 612-24, R. 612-12 and following of the Homeland Security Code.

Ways and deadlines for appeal

The applicant may challenge the refusal to issue the business card within two months of notification of the refusal decision by forming a mandatory pre-administrative appeal with the National Accreditation and control of the National Council of Private Security Activities (Cnaps), located 2-4-6, Boulevard Poissonnière, 75009 Paris.

The National Commission will rule on the basis of the factual and legal status prevailing on the date of its decision.

This remedy is obligatory before any litigation. It's free.

Litigation may be exercised before the administrative court of the applicant's place of residence or with the administrative court of Paris for applicants who have their place of residence abroad within two months of notification. express decision by the National Accreditation and Control Commission, i.e. the acquisition of the implicit decision to reject the silence kept by the National Accreditation and Control Commission for two months from the date of receipt of the mandatory prior administrative remedy.

For further information: Article L. 633-3 of the Code of Homeland Security; Articles L. 412-1 to L. 412-8 of the Code of Public-Government Relations; Articles R. 421-1 to R. 421-7 of the Code of Administrative Justice.

c. Remedies

French assistance centre

The ENIC-NARIC Centre is the French centre for information on academic and professional recognition of diplomas.

Solvit

SOLVIT is a service provided by the National Administration of each EU member state or party to the EEA agreement. Its aim is to find a solution to a dispute between an EU national and the administration of another of these states. SOLVIT intervenes in particular in the recognition of professional qualifications.

Conditions

The person concerned can only use SOLVIT if he establishes:

  • that the public administration of one EU state has not respected its rights under EU law as a citizen or business of another EU state;
  • that it has not already initiated legal action (administrative action is not considered as such).
Procedure

The national must complete a online complaint form .

Once his file has been submitted, SOLVIT contacts him within a week to request, if necessary, additional information and to verify that the problem is within his competence.

Supporting documents

To enter SOLVIT, the national must communicate:

  • Full contact details
  • Detailed description of his problem
  • all the evidence in the file (for example, correspondence and decisions received from the relevant administrative authority).
Time

SOLVIT is committed to finding a solution within ten weeks of the day the case was taken over by the SOLVIT centre in the country in which the problem occurred.

Cost

Free.

Outcome of the procedure

At the end of the 10-week period, SOLVIT presents a solution:

  • If this solution resolves the dispute over the application of European law, the solution is accepted and the case is closed;
  • if there is no solution, the case is closed as unresolved and referred to the European Commission.
More information

SOLVIT in France: General Secretariat for European Affairs, 68 rue de Bellechasse, 75700 Paris ( official website ).