While private security is a very regulated industry at national level, there are areas in which European standards may bridge gaps, bring more details and determine quality criteria. Such is the case of services delivered in critical infrastructure. While the former legislation on CIP was very loose and not at all prescriptive, the new CER Directive (Critical Entities Resilience) goes much deeper and, among others, refers to standards, quality for security services and training.
Since many years, ASSA-i and CoESS have been actively engaged in the European standardisation work within CEN. Since 2015, there is a specific Technical Committee for Private Security Services, TC 439. This TC, with several experts from Private Security, has been working to set up a complete standard system for private security services in critical infrastructure. A first standard, which determines the overall criteria for Private Security Companies (PSCs) in CIP was adopted in 2021, EN 17483-1 "General Requirements". At the end of 2023, two sector-specific standards were adopted as part of this sytem: the Aviation Security Standard, EN 17483-2 and the Maritime/Port Security Standard, EN 17483-3.
Compliance with both 17483-1 and 17483-2 is required to be certified for aviation security. For buyers of such services, it then becomes very straightforward to look for certified suppliers, for which the criteria are clearly outlined in both these standards.
ASSA-i strongly encourages its members to get certified and Aviation stakeholders to require compliance with the standard from its suppliers.