The Commercial Agents and Private Inquiry Agents Act 2004 (CAPI) will be repealed on 1 July 2022.

From that date:

  • existing CAPI licences will cease to be current
  • NSW Fair Trading will be responsible for licensing of Commercial Agents
  • SLED will remain responsible for licensing of Private Inquiry Agents, which will become Private Investigators as a new subclass of security licence.

HOW IT WORKS

Commercial Agents

You can find information on the regulation of, and licensing requirements for, commercial agents from 1 July 2022, on the NSW Fair Trading website.

Private Inquiry Agents

If, on 30 June 2022, you have a current CAPI licence with subclass/es for Private Inquiry Agent activities, it will become a security licence as from 1 July 2022.

If you already hold a security operative licence, subclass 2E (Private Investigator) will be added to the licence and the security licence expiry date will be retained.

If you already hold a security Master licence, you will be authorised to provide subclass 2E (Private Investigator) operatives and the security licence expiry date will be retained.

If you do not already hold a security licence, your CAPI licence number will be your security licence number. The security licence will retain the expiry date of the former CAPI licence.

The current requirement to have completed a CPP30619 Certificate III in Investigative Services will apply to the subclass 2E (Private Investigator) of a security licence.

Next steps

A Security Industry Amendment Regulation is being finalised that will prescribe transitional arrangements to ensure no licensee is disadvantaged by these changes.

SLED will write to current CAPI licensees closer to 1 July 2022 to provide more information, including information on any refund due to you following the transition. Refunds will not be made before 1 July 2022.

We will also provide more information on qualifications, including any requirement to provide evidence of your existing qualifications you relied on for your CAPI licence.

Important points

You MUST hold a current CAPI licence if you are conducting CAPI activities before 1 July 2022.

Probationary CAPI licences with subclass/es for Private Inquiry Agent activities will transition to a security operative licence. However, you will not be able to renew the security licence unless you provide evidence you have completed a CPP30619 Certificate III in Investigative Services.