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WAPI NewsWAPI RESPONSE TO SIA QUESTIONNAIRE - IMPACT ASSESSMENT30 November 2005.
I refer to your Questionnaire in respect of the licensing of Private Investigation and Security Consultancy, and confirm that in my capacity as Chairman of the World Association of Professional Investigators, I am submitting the Questionnaire insofar as it applies to the Private Investigator Sector. In respect of Question 2, Aims and Objectives, I have enclosed a copy of these from the WAPI Website, and in respect of Question 8, I am attaching the WAPI proposals on the Competence Criteria with which you have previously been supplied and which we have discussed on occasions. In respect of Question 9, I would propose to again draw your attention and emphasise that as an Association we fully believe in and support the concept of licensing and indeed the requirement of a competence criteria. We are, however, concerned that the Act itself has been drawn in a manner which may put it in conflict with current European Law and indeed with the Pan European concept of minimisation of restrictions of internal trade, and possibly contravening existing EU Court Precedents. One particular area of concern is that of the applying of a criteria determined by examination, private training courses, or assessment, and taking into consideration that the current requirement for migrants seeking employment in regulated professions in the UK in accordance with Statutory Instrument 2002 No. 2934 (European Communities Recognition of Professional Qualifications and the general System Regulations 2002) that an unfair, if not unlawful burden, would be applied to UK residents applying for a Licence compared to migrants. Referring back to the WAPI Competence Proposals these, in our view, do not breach the European Directives inasmuch as there is an option for proven experience and/or recognised qualifications which can be taken as evidence of competence. Lastly, there are three other areas of concern that we feel need to be carefully examined by the SIA during your consideration of potential criteria, these being as follows: a) Provisional Licence for Trainees: It would appear to be completely within the remit of the SIA to create a provisional or conditional license with specific restrictions/requirements, so that a provisional Licensee could actually undertake licensable activities under the direction of a Licensee. b) An Undercover Operator’s License: This would be a class of Licence designed for those Investigators to perform licensable activities whilst “under cover” and would allow for specific skills on a short term basis, such as an Investigator that hires a Forklift Driver to work under cover in a factory for a short period of time. As you will appreciate there could be major risk issues for such an Investigator whose details would appear on the Public Register. We would suggest, therefore, that a category of Licence, possibly valid for a short period, be created and exempted from the Public Register. c) Overseas Investigators, both European and non European, who arrive during the course of a current and ongoing investigation originating in their own city/country. We would urge that there should be a short term Licence available for such situations that could be applied for retrospectively. By way of example, the Congestion Charge in London is payable retrospectively, albeit on the same day. As you will appreciate an integral aspect of the European Trade Directive is the free movement throughout the EU of both individuals and trade, and it may well be an issue to be examined by the EU Court in the event that a PI from one part of the Union was prosecuted in another part of the Union for having failed to obtain a Licence.
Kind regards. Yours truly,
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