Legal Framework for Private Security and Cash-in-Transit in Belgium
The layered legal basis
Belgian private security and cash-in-transit (CIT) sit on two foundations: the Law of 10 April 1990 on private and special security (the Wet van 10 april 1990 / Loi du 10 avril 1990), which regulates who may provide security services and how they are licensed, and the Law of 21 March 2007 regulating security firms, security officers and internal security services, which governs the day-to-day status, training, identification and discipline of guards. Royal decrees and ministerial decisions fill in the operational detail (uniform, badge, training content, armouring requirements).
Core concepts
Understand the distinction between a security firm (a licensed commercial provider), an internal security service (in-house, non-commercial), and the separate status of CIT transport. Know that CIT is a regulated activity requiring prior authorisation, and that guards are not police: they hold no police powers, cannot conduct searches on public authority, and act as private citizens with additional statutory duties (e.g., the duty to report certain facts). Understand the role of the competent federal authority (SPF Interior) and the advisory bodies that issue and withdraw authorisations.
Traps in exam questions
- Confusing the 1990 law (framework/authorisation) with the 2007 law (status of officers and firms).
- Assuming a guard may detain or search on the same basis as police.
- Forgetting that authorisation is activity-specific and time-limited, and that carrying a weapon requires a separate, explicit authorisation.
- Treating CIT as ordinary guarding: it has its own authorisation and vehicle/crew rules.
Rule of thumb
If a question asks who may do it, think 1990 law and authorisation; if it asks what the guard may do and how, think 2007 law and the officer's status.
Worked example
A candidate is asked whether a CIT guard may search a suspicious person's bag on the street. Answer: no. The guard is not a police officer; any search would be a private-citizen act outside the statutory powers, and the correct response is observation, distance, and calling police.