European legal interpretation of rules on free movement of labour could undermine UK security industry licences – just as it is seems to be scuppering Dutch security licensing.
Regulation of private security companies and detective agencies in the Netherlands dates from 1997. However, a European court ruling of October 2004 found that the Netherlands were in the wrong for requiring private security workers to pay for a permit; and to have a proof of identity card, issued by the Dutch authorities. The European Commission brought the Dutch to court claiming it was failing to fulfil an obligation, that is, the Netherlands were restricting freedom to provide services. Denying this, the Dutch government claimed in court that it was acting in the public interest, and that it needed to protect security service users from abuses. The court ruled that the Dutch could not justify their restrictions, as the restrictions were beyond what was necessary to supervise the security activities. <br><br>While the legal case has taken time – the action was brought in May 2003 – the problem in the Netherlands is real. Namely, that eastern European workers are brought into the Netherlands to work in private security, without Dutch licensing, but legally because the Poles, for instance, are European Union citizens. Or, the eastern Europeans are bussed in by security companies based over the border, as another way of avoiding the Dutch regulation. Not only does this mean unscreened and possibly lesser trained staff work in the Netherlands, but the eastern Europeans work for a fraction of the pay of Dutch security workers. In all, a concern to Dutch security guard companies and unions alike.<br><br>Background<br><br>In our August 2004 issue we reported on a proposed European directive on ‘services in the internal market’ which would cover the authorisation needed for companies to provide services in EU countries and the standards they must meet. If approved, the directive might cover 50 per cent of the economic activity and 60 per cent of the jobs in the EU including security services, healthcare, construction and IT. The BSIA and other UK security bodies at the time said they would like the security industry to be included in those sectors that are exempt from the directive. At the time, Stephen Adams, BSIA Marketing and Export Services Director, pointed to two major faults in the directive: “Firstly, the ‘country of origin principle’ states that once a service provider is operating legally in one member state, it can market its services in other member states without having to comply with further rules in the ‘host’ country. It is our strong belief that this would cause a risk of abuses of competition in the private security industry and would encourage security service providers to move their headquarters to the EU member states with the lowest requirements. The authorities in countries with higher standards would then be under pressure to lower their standards, jeopardising public security. Secondly, there is a distinct inconsistency within the proposal resulting in a situation where a private security company that wants to establish itself in the UK must ask for authorisation, whereas a company established in another member state would be allowed to provide such services in the UK without any authorisation.’ In its response to the consultation, the BSIA has called for the relevant European and national authorities to conduct a more detailed and extended assessment of the impact of the draft directive on the whole of the European private security industry.”
Richard Newman, current president of the Association of British Investigators, told Professional Security that he thinks the same interpretation will apply to private investigators. He said: “We are looking to work with the rest of Europe, people like the IKD, to try to get a unified [private investigators] licence throughout Europe.” Licences are among the topics to be discused at the ABI annual conference at Oxford on April 22 to 24. Invited speakers include Alan Martin, head of standards at SITO; Mike Welphy, recently retired from the Joint Security Industry Council, on the Company of Security Professionals; and a SIA representative.
