The evolution of security industry regulation in the European Union

ABSTRACT

The European private security sector has grown from a handful of small companies at the end of the Second World War into a multibillion Euro industry with thousands of firms and millions of security staff. In Europe, the demands for security is not just expressed notionally but also officially in The European Agenda on Security stating the European Union (EU) aims to ensure that people live in an area of freedom, security, and justice. This article will begin by exploring the role of private security in society. It will then move on to consider the main phases in the development of private security regulation in Europe. Following on from this, some of the main areas of policy development will be considered, such as European bodies, initiatives, and standards. Finally, the article will explore some of the potential options for the future in better regulating the European private security sector. From a historical perspective, the evolution of private security regulation can be divided into three phases: the laissez-faire, the centrifugal, and the centripetal era – each with its own distinct characteristics and impact on the concurrent industry. In the EU where there is the legal framework for the development of a single market in services, the key social partners have been at the forefront of developing a series of standards and guidance documents which promote standards across borders at the European level. However, the institutions of the EU have been reluctant to intervene at a European level in setting minimum standards of private security regulation. Thus, the changing terrain of the EU relating to security, regulation, and the private security industry means the current trajectory may be in need of an injection of more radical thought and consideration.     

Critiquing the regulation of private security in the United Kingdom: views from inside the sector

ABSTRACT

The UK Private Security Industry Act 2001 provided the legal mechanism for the statutory regulation of parts of the private security sector with the explicit aim of reducing criminality in the industry and raising standards. It created the Security Industry Authority as the regulator which commenced operation in 2003. Since then, it has received mixed reviews, and proposals have been forwarded to change its status and the way it works. This paper provides insights from two groups most affected by regulation: security specialists who buy security, and managers and directors of security companies who are subject to regulation and work with its strengths and weaknesses. The paper reports on their views of both the existing regime and some proposed changes. It suggests that the regulator and the industry share similar views albeit there has been a lack of emphasis on what it takes to enhance the ability of the industry to support the public generally rather than just those who pay.     

Common past - different paths: Exploring state regulation of private security industry in Eastern Europe and post-Soviet republics

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we explore the nature of the security guard industry with a focus on security guard employment relative to police officer, the diverse legislative guidelines pertaining to the scope of their functions, employment eligibility, training, and legal powers in the new independent and post-socialist countries in Eastern Europe and post-Soviet republics. Findings suggest that despite the rapid proliferation of private security industry in the post-socialist countries relative to the gradual growth experienced in the European continent in many of the new independent states, public police continue to play a critical role in the form of employees of state-owned security guard companies. Further, we find considerable disparity in the employment ratios of police officers and security guards in these countries though not much variation in the rigor of legislative framework for private security guard employment in the post-socialist nations appeared, which was minimal at best.     

我国转基因生物安全立法的现状、问题与对策研究

我国转基因生物安全立法在发展过程中体现了“以外促内”的特点。目前,我国转基因生物安全立法层次太低,管理部门之间条块分割、多头监管的体制使得监管制度覆盖不全面,从而影响了对转基因生物安全进行监管的总体效果。此外,转基因标识制度不健全,公众参与度不高。应当通过集中、综合性立法的方式构建我国转基因生物安全制度的法律体系,建立国家转基因生物安全管理协调机构,完善监管机制,不断提高对转基因生物的监管水平。同时也要完善标识制度和公众参与制度,保障社会公众对转基因生物安全事务的知情权、参与权。     

Robots,standards and the law: Rivalries between private standards and public policymaking for robot governance

This article explains the complex intertwinement between public and private regulators in the case of robot technology. Public policymaking ensures broad multi-stakeholder protected scope, but its abstractness often fails in intelligibility and applicability. Private standards, on the contrary, are more concrete and applicable, but most of the times they are voluntary and reflect industry interests. The ‘better regulation’ approach of the EU may increase the use of evidence to inform policy and lawmaking, and the involvement of different stakeholders. Current hard-lawmaking instruments do not appear to take advantage of the knowledge produced by standard-based regulations, virtually wasting their potential benefits. This fact affects the legal certainty with regards to a fast-paced changing environment like robotics. In this paper, we investigate the challenges of overlapping public/private regulatory initiatives that govern robot technologies in general, and in the concrete of healthcare robot technologies. We wonder until what extent robotics should be governed only by standards. We also reflect on how public policymaking could increase their technical understanding of robot technology to devise an applicable and comprehensive framework for this technology. In this respect, we propose different ways to integrate the technical know-how into policymaking (e.g., collecting the data/knowledge generated from the impact assessments in shared data repositories, and using it for evidence-based policies) and to strengthen the legitimacy of standards.     

The state human trafficking and human rights issues in Africa

Internal factors in Africa which include limited autonomy of African states, the states’ various degrees of lack of capacity, as well as inept and parasitic leadership make human trafficking and human rights abuses in Africa inevitable. Regardless of the connections suggested to exist between globalization and human trafficking, internal factors in Africa are more fundamental than globalization in explaining human trafficking and the associated human rights violations. Corruption and misrule brought about wars and crises, unemployment, poverty, and diseases, all of which acted as push factors in disposing victims to be trafficked. Internal factors were exacerbated by the structural adjustment programs of the 1980s and were only deepened by the impacts of globalization. Any meaningful resolve to combat human trafficking and fight human rights abuses in Africa necessarily has to address the nature of state and the character of the leadership in the region.     

我国环境法律中的国家安全刍议

鉴于国家安全在我国经济和社会可持续发展中居于举足轻重的地位,本文从国家安全的内涵及其发展入手,论述运用环境法律制度保障国家安全的现实急迫性和法理基础,最后提出完善相关环境法律维护国家安全的建议措施。     

The relative success of private funders and government funders in funding important science

Regression analysis is used to test the effects of funding source (and of various control variables) on the importance of the article, as measured by the number of citations that the article receives. Funding source is measured by the number of private and the number of government grants mentioned in the acknowledgements section. The importance of an article is measured by an “early” count (of citations through October 1992), and a “late” count (of citations through July 2002). Using either measure of article importance, the evidence suggests that private funders are more successful than the government at identifying important research. Jel classification D 780 . H 110 . O 310     

Laboratories of Statehood: Legal Intervention in Colonial Africa and Today

The immense body of contemporary work aimed at ‘promoting the rule of law’ is often accused of ‘neo‐imperialism’. Yet, despite many points of contiguity between past and present legal interventions, the charge is overbroad and rarely illuminating. This article attempts to move beyond polemic to track concrete historical and structural forerunners of today's rule of law work. Focusing mainly (though not exclusively) on late imperial British endeavours, it traces colonial legal interventions over time, the techniques adopted (and rejected), the shifting normative bases of legitimacy, and moments of strategic recalibration in the face of resistance. Three broad attitudes towards law across the period are (provisionally) characterised as ‘regulative’, ‘constitutive’ and ‘institutive’ moments. In each phase, the Powers treat colonial territories as laboratories of statehood, within which experiments are conducted to locate the optimal configuration of law. In conclusion some counterparts to these moments in today's ‘rule of law’ activities are identified.     

Back to first principles: a new model for the regulation of drug promotion

The US Food and Drug Administration''s (‘FDA’ or the ‘Agency’) current regulatory framework for drug promotion, by significantly restricting the ability of drug manufacturers to communicate important, accurate, up-to-date scientific information about their products that is truthful and non-misleading, runs afoul of the First Amendment and actually runs counter to the Agency''s public health mission. Our article proposes a New Model that represents an initial proposal for a modern, sustainable regulatory framework that comprehensively addresses drug promotion while protecting the public health, protecting manufacturers’ First Amendment rights, establishing clear and understandable rules, and maintaining the integrity of the FDA approval process. The New Model would create three categories of manufacturer communications—(1) Scientific Exchange and Other Exempt Communications, (2) Non-Core Communications, and (3) Core Communications—that would be regulated consistent with the First Amendment and according to the strength of the government''s interest in regulating the specific communications included within each category. The New Model should address the FDA''s concerns related to off-label speech while protecting drug manufacturers’ freedom to engage in truthful and non-misleading communications about their products.     

The role of private and public regulation in the case study of crypto-assets: The Italian move towards participatory regulation

With the Digital Financial package (MiCA, DLT Pilot, and DORA, later on complemented by the DAC8 proposal) the European Union seeks to establish an appropriate legal framework for crypto-assets showing a financial nature. The package represents a first attempt to regulate a complex and emerging phenomenon, characterised by significant trade-offs. Unsurprisingly, in this early stage of the law-making process several relevant aspects of the crypto environment remain unaddressed, such as pure DeFI models, DAOs, and NFTs. Such regulatory gap is to a large extent attributable to the difficulty of addressing technologically complex issues through command-and-control top-down legislation. The improvements delivered by the Better Regulation Agenda are not enough to solve this conundrum. In this context, the Communication by the Bank of Italy on Decentralised Technology in Finance and Crypto-assets and its first move, the smart-contract MoU, provide an interesting case study to discuss the potential of ‘participatory regulation.’ This experimental form of regulation tries to get the most out of co-regulation, self-regulation, and command-and-control, combining their characters with the view of reconciling the technology neutrality principle with technology-based regulation. Participatory regulation aims to bridge the public and private sector in order to strike a right balance between flexibility and legal certainty, without stifling innovation.     

私募投资基金之法律特徵及制度供给

本文分析了投资基金具有集资性、投资性、组织形式不确定性以及管理人与投资人分离等法律特徵，私募投资基金还兼具募集定向的特点。为规范私募投资基金的发展，应在投资基金的募集方式、组织形式、行为模式、内部治理以及外部监督和救济等方面增加或完善制度供给。     

从“艳照门”事件看隐私权和知情权的冲突

香港“艳照门”事件揭示了公民的隐私权与公众的知情权之间的冲突。如何协调二者之间的冲突，是摆在我们面前急需解决的问题。本文试从隐私权和知情权的产生和发展入手，论述隐私权和知情权的概念、内容等基本理论，分析两者之间的权利冲突，最后提出解决权利冲突的协调方案。     

Evaluating the case for greater use of private prosecutions in England and Wales for fraud offences

This paper considers the challenges and opportunities that exist in England and Wales for the use of private prosecutions for Fraud. It considers the need for sanctions against fraudsters: looks at the prosecution landscape as it has evolved, especially during the 21st century: considers the legal basis for private prosecution and gives a brief history of its extent. The advantages and disadvantages associated with private prosecution are considered and recommendations made on the changes needed before there could be significant developments in the use of private prosecutions.     

DNA sequence characterization of the FGA STR locus in the free state population of South Africa

POPULATION: African (n=52), Mixed Ancestry (n=5), Caucasian (n=4) SAN (n=1).     

Oversight Effectiveness and Political Will: Some Lessons from West Africa

The purpose of the present note is to advance two theoretical claims. The first claim proposed is that the impact of the availability of oversight tools and of the most broadly understood legislative capacity (availability of material, technical, financial resources; availability of well-trained staff) on the effectiveness with which legislative oversight is performed is conditional. The second claim put forward, after reviewing a rich body of work on executive–legislative relations and legislative oversight in West Africa, is that, of the various conditions that promote or prevent the effective use of oversight tools and capacity, political will is the single most important. These claims have both theoretical and practical relevance, for if political will is as important as is claimed for the effective performance of the oversight function, then international organisations may have to reconsider their approach to legislative strengthening.     

论城市公共安全体系的构建与完善

公共安全体系是一个城市整体运作机制中的重要组成部分,一个城市能否健康、快速的发展需要城市公共安全体系的保障。恐怖袭击和流行性传染疾病是目前城市公共安全体系面对的最为严重的问题,由于我国目前在这方面缺乏经验和科学、完备的机制,因此有必要借鉴国外这方面的发展成果,结合我国国情尽快建立高效的现代城市公共安全体系,以适应现代化建设的需要。