Constitutional Court Rules Unconstitutional to Cancel Security Company License for Assigning 'Non-Security Duties'... Constitutional Incompatibility

Majority Opinion "Uniform and Total Ban Violates Principle of Minimal Infringement"
Opposing Opinion "Difficult to Adequately Prevent Damage to Security Duties Focus"

The Constitutional Court has ruled that the legal provision mandating the cancellation of a security company's license if security guards are assigned tasks other than security duties is unconstitutional.

Chief Justice Yoo Nam-seok of the Constitutional Court and the justices are entering the grand courtroom. Photo by Jin-Hyung Kang aymsdream@

On the 23rd, the Constitutional Court made a decision of constitutional inconsistency with six justices in favor and three dissenting in the constitutional review case requested by Changwon District Court regarding Article 7, Paragraph 5 of the Security Services Act.

Article 7, Paragraph 5 of the Security Services Act restricts security companies from allowing their employed security guards to perform any tasks other than security duties. Article 19 of the same law stipulates that companies violating this must have their security business license revoked.

The Constitutional Court stated, "Although there are cases where the exclusivity of security duties is not directly harmed, the provision uniformly and comprehensively prohibits security companies from assigning security guards to non-security tasks without considering the extent of such cases, which violates the principle of minimal infringement." It further judged, "Allowing security guards to perform non-security tasks to any extent and revoking the entire security business license upon such allowance, thereby preventing the company from conducting any security business, also violates the balance of legal interests."

On the other hand, Justices Yoo Nam-seok, Lee Eun-ae, and Lee Mi-seon dissented, stating, "The provision prohibits the performance of non-security duties by security guards itself, and this cannot be seen as an excessive restriction. Furthermore, discretionary cancellation of security licenses or suspension of business alone cannot sufficiently prevent situations that undermine the exclusivity of security duties."

However, the Constitutional Court noted that if the provision under review were simply declared unconstitutional, it could lead to unreasonable results where security guards would be allowed to perform non-security tasks even when it harms the exclusivity of security duties, and security companies could not have their licenses revoked even if security guards were assigned to tasks that directly undermine exclusivity. Therefore, the Court decided to maintain the current law until December 31, 2024, allowing the National Assembly time to enact improvement legislation.