Legal duty
Legal requirement through the Trade Regulation Act
The expert knowledge examination is mandatory under § 34a of the Trade, Commerce and Industry Regulation Act (GewO) in order to be allowed to carry out the following activities in the guarding trade:
- Patrols in public traffic areas or in areas with actual public traffic (e.g. city patrols, railway stations, shopping centres)
- Protection against shoplifters (shop or department stores’ detective)
- Guards in the entrance area of discotheques in the hospitality industry (bouncers)
- Guarding communal accommodation or other real estate and facilities used for the official accommodation, even temporarily, of asylum seekers or refugees, in a managerial capacity
- Guarding of access-protected major events in a managerial capacity
- Self-employed activity in the guarding business (security contractor)
“Hospitably” means that you are employed as an employee of a security company by their customers, e.g. in a discotheque as a bouncer. (You yourself are not directly employed by the discotheque).
But § 34a GewO is not only relevant for the employee, also for Security contractor (employer/self-employed person), it contains important provisions: The entrepreneur must be personally suitable (“reliable”), i.e. he must not have any relevant criminal record. He or she must not live in disorderly financial circumstances, and must also be able to show appropriate financial means and securities and have taken out sufficient liability insurance for the business. In addition, the entrepreneur himself must be appropriately trained and must also have successfully passed the expert knowledge examination according to § 34a GewO. A 80 hours of instruction is required for tradesmen since December 2016 to open a guarding business. no longer sufficient. The guarding trade is subject to a permit by the competent authority and may only be taken up after its approval.
Supplementary regulations can be found in the Bewachungsverordnung (BewachV), which was issued on the basis of § 34a GewO. Among other things, it contains detailed regulations on the training procedure and the examination of expertise. It also contains supplementary provisions on the required liability insurance of the security company (insurance sums), further obligations when exercising the trade (e.g. obligation to carry a service card) as well as provisions on the punishment of violations (administrative offences).
You can access the complete legal texts on the internet:
Reasons of the legislator for the expert knowledge examination
Why is an examination actually required by the legislator for the above-mentioned activities?
On the one hand, the activities listed are particularly risky: the number of reported accidents among doormen and department stores’ detectives is above average within the security industry. And there are also greater dangers lurking when you are out and about in the public sector. On the other hand, in these areas you are always dealing with new people who are unknown to you. The danger of an attack on you is significantly increased. You must be aware of this and therefore have special competence and advanced knowledge. You will have to interfere with the rights of third parties more often in the above-mentioned activities and should therefore have sound knowledge of what you are allowed to do and what you are not allowed to do!
The written and oral examination at the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) is intended to ensure that you have the required knowledge in any case.
Distinction from information
What is the difference between the examination of expertise and instruction?
Very important and therefore mentioned here again as a separate point is the distinction from the pure instruction procedure according to § 34a GewO, which is offered with 40h* of time:
Mere instruction in accordance with § 34a GewO is not sufficient to be allowed to work in the above-mentioned areas of the security industry! The Information procedure is an entry requirement in order to be allowed to take up any activity in the security industry at all, but includes not the special guarding activities.
A successfully passed Aachkunde exam at the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, on the other hand, qualifies you to work in principle in all areas to be allowed to work in the industry.
Overview of qualification levels:
- Instruction 40h*
Basic entry requirement for a job in the security guard industry - Expertise test
Mandatory requirement for taking on special surveillance activities (see above).
Mandatory requirement for entrepreneurial activities in the security industry (self-employment/trade)
Before taking the examination no teaching or preparatory course prescribed.
*) Note:
The time specifications are teaching hours, whereby a teaching unit (in accordance with the guarding ordinance) must correspond to 45 minutes. The pure instruction according to § 34a GewO includes not with a recognised examination at the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK).
The 80-hour training course, which was also possible for prospective traders until November 2016, has been discontinued, and an expert knowledge examination in accordance with § 34a GewO is now mandatory here.
Prohibition of the activity
Both the entrepreneur and the employees of a security company can be prohibited from carrying out their activities. This is the case if the competent authority (usually the municipal trade office or public order office) has facts that give rise to justified doubts about the personal reliability. As a rule, these are relevant previous convictions of the person concerned, which become known to the authority through unrestricted information from the Federal Central Register (BZR). Information from the police and, if necessary, from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution is also taken into account. Membership in a banned organisation or certain associations can also be grounds for prohibition.
When taking up a corresponding activity in guarding, one must be of age.
Guard register
A new feature since June 2019 is that a state guard register is maintained nationwide. Initially, the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA) was responsible for its operation under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Economics. Since 1 July 2020, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Home Affairs (BMI) has been responsible for the register, which is operated by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). The competent (local) regulatory authority as well as each security company is responsible for entering the data. A trader must register and deregister each security guard and also management staff online via the guard register. For this purpose, each security guard receives an individual guard register identification number (guard ID), via which he/she can be clearly assigned. In particular, data enabling the identification of security guards (first and last name, residential address, identification document, etc.), data proving reliability (result of the last inspection, etc.) as well as qualification (e.g. IHK certificate of professional competence with date and place of the issuing chamber) are stored. The main aim of the register is to improve state control possibilities.
Recognition of other degrees
The legislator waives the additional examination for certain groups of persons or professions. The following degrees and qualifications are recognised and also entitle the holder to take up special security activities pursuant to § 34a GewO:
- Service staff for protection and security
- Certified protection and security staff (plant security specialists)
- Specialists for protection and security
- Master craftsman for protection and security (works security master craftsman)
- Military Police of the German Armed Forces
- Persons with a completed career examination in the intermediate service (or higher): Police, Federal Border Guard, Federal Police, Prison Service, Customs (with authorisation to carry a weapon)
- Exemption: Security personnel who were authorised to work in the guarding sector without interruption at least from 1 January 2000 to 1 January 2003 enjoy “grandfather protection” and are thus exempt from the examination of professional competence. (However, at least the instruction according to § 34a GewO must have been carried out!)
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