Private Security
and the CNAPS
Advice and
litigation
The Office advises and defends private security companies and their managers, as well as the clients and shipowners who use their services, on land and at sea. A refused or withdrawn approval, a suspended authorisation or a sanction imposed by the Conseil national des activités privées de sécurité (CNAPS), the French private security regulator, can halt the company’s business or target its manager personally. The Office’s work in this field builds on Guillaume Loonis Quélen’s doctoral thesis on armed guards on board ships. The thesis is presented, together with his other publications and talks, on the Maritime Law Research page. Like ship protection, onshore private security is governed by the French Internal Security Code (Code de la sécurité intérieure) and overseen by the CNAPS. In private security matters, the Office’s services draw on maritime law for activities at sea and in ports, as well as on general law for contracts and employment relations. Proceedings before the CNAPS and appeals against its decisions fall, for their part, within the Office’s advisory and litigation work.
Approval, authorisation and certification
- the approval of managers, known as the agrément, and the company’s operating authorisation, and their refusal, suspension or withdrawal;
- the certification of private maritime security companies (PMSCs) and the provisional authorisation that may precede it;
- the international frameworks applicable to the sector, including the Montreux Document, the International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers and ISO 28007-1.
Inspections and discipline
- preparing for a CNAPS inspection and dealing with its aftermath, on land and on board ships;
- CNAPS disciplinary proceedings before its Director or its Disciplinary Committee and the sanctions incurred, including financial penalties;
- the mandatory prior appeal, which has suspensive effect, against a warning or reprimand issued by the Director, and proceedings before the administrative courts.
Your security personnel: professional licences and employment contracts
- checking the professional licence, known as the carte professionnelle, before hiring or assigning security personnel;
- the refusal, suspension or withdrawal of an officer’s licence and their consequences for the employment contract;
- the employment contract, the applicable law and the competent court where an assignment takes place abroad or on board a ship;
- working and rest hours, social security and the handling of an accident during an assignment.
Contracts and subcontracting
- service contracts between the client and the security company;
- the subcontracting of guarding and surveillance services, its legal limits and the checks required of the client.
Use of force and incidents
- the issue of weapons to security personnel, in the cases and under the conditions laid down by law and regulations;
- the rules for the use of force (RUF) and self-defence;
- the handling of an incident during an assignment and its consequences, including criminal ones, for the company, its managers or the client.
The Office also assists individual security officers, in particular where their professional licence is refused, suspended or withdrawn.
Training for your teams is a separate service, described on the Maritime Law Training page.
Would you like more information or a consultation?