Chapter II: Functions, Duties, and Responsibilities – Security Measures

Posted on Aug 17, 2024 in Law & Jurisprudence

CHAPTER II. Functions, Duties, and Responsibilities

SECTION 1: BANKS, SAVINGS, AND OTHER CREDIT INSTITUTIONS

Section 119. Security and Alarm Central Department

1. All banks, savings, and other credit institutions will have a security department responsible for organizing and managing security.

2. They must be connected to their own alarm central.

Section 120. Specific Security Measures

1. Entities holding funds and securities should consider the following:

  • Equipment and systems for collection and registration, capable of obtaining images of perpetrators, allowing subsequent identification. These should operate during public business hours and not require immediate employee intervention.
  • Stands for recording images, protected against theft. Storage devices with recorded images must be kept for at least 15 days from the recording date.
  • The content is strictly confidential and should only be used for perpetrator identification. It should be deleted after 15 days.
  • Electronic devices to detect attacks or any physical security element where actual custody takes place.
  • Buttons or other easily operable means for alarm signals.
  • A teller box, at least 2 feet high, closed from the inside during public service hours, and protected by bulletproof shielding.
  • Individual access control to the office or facility, allowing the detection of metallic masses, automatic door anchoring and locking, and remote control for unlocking the system in case of fire, catastrophe, or emergency. Complementary door presence detectors or sensitive outlet sockets when using the two-way system, and shielding as determined.
  • Posters with efficiency information, announcing the automatic opening system and permanent delayed imaging system.

1. Establishments in towns with less than 10,000 inhabitants and no more than 10 employees are exempt from the obligation to implement the closed teller box enclosure from the inside, metallic mass detection, and door anchoring and locking.

Article 121. Requirements for Vaults and Rental Boxes

Cash vaults and rental compartments shall have:

  • A mechanical or electronic device that allows locking the door from closing time until the first hour of the next business day.
  • A delayed automatic opening system that must be activated during the working day, except for rental compartments, which must have an electronic detection system connected 24 hours a day.
  • Seismic detectors, microphones.
  • Volumetric detectors.
  • Fish-eye peepholes or similar, or closed-circuit TV inside connected to the provided volumetric detection videosensor.

Section 122. Safes, Cash Dispensers, and ATMs

  • Protected with locking devices and delayed automatic opening. When weighing less than 2000 kg, they should also be anchored to reinforced concrete structures, the floor, or the wall.
  • Auxiliary boxes, in addition to the drawer where the cash needed for operations is deposited, will be provided with a deposit box for items with cash inside.
  • Cash dispensers will be fitted with a delayed automatic opening system and the possibility to support income, allowing the automatic dispensing of cash from current or savings accounts.

ATMs:

  • Lobby establishment: Reinforced access door with impact-resistant glazing, manual and internal locking device, a device for automatically opening delayed in the gateway to the cash deposit, seismic detector in the back.
  • On the facade or within the inner perimeter of a building: Delayed automatic opening device on the door of access to cash deposit and seismic detector in the rear.
  • Interior of buildings, provided they have continuous surveillance with weapons, but are exempt from compliance with the anchor to the floor or wall of the box when it is less than 2000 kg.
  • Open space and not part of the perimeter of a building, the booth must be anchored to the ground and protected by the measures.

Article 123. Floor Plans

Keep up-to-date floor plans of all offices at headquarters, descriptions of the distribution of the various departments and facilities of the different security services, and technical reports on materials used in its construction, as required by FCS.

Article 124. Currency Exchange Offices and Transportable Modules

1. Minimum measures for the administration of lottery and betting.

2. Mobile or transportable bank modules:

  • Protection of the exhibition area for cash and access doors with bulletproof glass shield.
  • Enclosure box closed from the inside during customer service hours.
  • Safe with automatic delay and locking, which must be affixed to the vehicle structure of the module. The auxiliary box will be provided with a deposit box and attached to another delayed opening.
  • Outdoor light signal and buttons of the same inside.
  • Warning notices.
  • Own security service.

3. Authorization for each unit or module for the operation of these establishments.

Section 126. Postal Boxes

Not applicable to principal offices where the business is to provide public services of Posts and Telegraphs.

SECTION 2: JEWELRY, SILVERWARE, ART GALLERIES, AND ANTIQUES SHOPS

Section 127. Applicable Safety Measures

Following measures:

  • Safe or vault for custody of cash and precious objects, equipped with an automatic delayed opening system activated during working hours and a mechanical or electronic device permitting locking the door from closing time until the early hours of the next day.
  • Safe weighing 2000 kg, anchored in a fixed manner, in a reinforced concrete structure on the floor or wall.
  • Anti-theft buttons or other means of activating the alarm system.
  • Grills on voids that give to patios and steps of the building’s interior and exterior metal shutters.
  • Armored door with manual impact resistance at all entrances to the interior fitted with suitable fencing and safety locks.
  • Electronic protection of windows, doors, and window shutters.
  • Electronic devices with redundant capacities for the detection of intrusion.
  • Seismic detectors on walls, ceilings, and floors of the vault.
  • Connection of the security system with an alarm center.
  • Posters.
  • Installation of armored glass windows with a combined value exceeding €100,000 and compulsory for windows or openings to the outside.
  • Art galleries, antique shops, and establishments ordinarily engaged in the exhibition or auction of jewelry and antique objects.

Article 128. Occasional Exhibitions or Auctions

For auctions not usually dedicated to these activities, notice shall be given not less than 15 days in advance to the Civil Governor.

  • The Civil Governor may order the organizers to adopt, prior to the exhibitions or auctions, the surveillance and security measures deemed appropriate.

Article 129. Waivers

Given the low volume of business and other circumstances, the civil governor may waive some or all of the security measures.

3rd SECTION: SERVICE STATIONS AND FUEL SUPPLY UNITS

Article 130. Enumeration of Security Measures

  • Service stations must provide a safe system or mechanism to prevent the extraction of money through the opening intended for introduction into the box and protected with two locks. The box will be embedded in a reinforced concrete structure, preferably in the soil.
  • One of the keys to the safe will be held by the store manager and another employee, and the other held by the owner or person responsible for the collection of funds.
  • To enable the necessary returns and exchanges, each employee can only hold, at the register, the amount of money set by the Ministry of Justice.
  • May, having warned the public through posters, fuel will be handled only by fixed amounts of money, so that it may be provided by the exact amount without having to make changes.

SECTION 4: OFFICE OF PHARMACY, ADM LOTTERY, MUTUAL BETTING OFFICES AND PLAY

Article 131. Offices of Pharmacy

Having a tunnel-type device, tray, or turntable back and forth with insurance, allowing service to customers without the need for them to enter inside.

It shall be binding only when serving pharmacies and emergency night services.

Article 132. Adm. Lottery and Betting Offices

  • Enclosed space in which there will be a safe.
  • The part of the exhibition to the public will be completely separate, using shielding components or materials, from the area reserved for employees transacting with the public, which will be permanently closed from the inside and fitted with devices to prevent attacks on these employees.
  • Transactions will be made public through the windows.

Article 133. Local Gambling

  • Enclosed space in which there will be a safe.
  • The part of the exhibition to the public will be completely separate, using shielding components or materials, from the area reserved for employees transacting with the public, which will be permanently closed from the inside and fitted with devices to prevent attacks on these employees.
  • Licensed bingo halls for more than 150 players and game machine rooms authorized for more than 75 gaming machines must have: a safe with a system or mechanism to prevent the extraction of money through the opening intended for introduction into the box, and two protected locks. The box will be embedded in a reinforced concrete structure, preferably on the floor. One of the keys to the safe will be held by the store manager and another employee, and the other held by the owner or person responsible for the collection of funds.

Article 134. Waivers

Given the low volume of business and other circumstances, the civil governor may waive some or all of the security measures.

SECTION 5: MAINTENANCE OF SAFETY MEASURES

Article 135. Review Book Catalog

  • Provide for review and adjustment, quarterly, of such measures by qualified personnel. No more than 4 months should pass between two successive reviews, and records of reviews and tuning carried out should be kept in a book catalog of the facilities.
  • This book/catalog will be mandatory for industrial, commercial, or service establishments connected to a central alarm.
  • Where facilities permit the verification of the condition and operation of each element of the system from the alarm center, check-ups will be held annually, with no more than 14 months passing between two successive checks.

CHAPTER III: OPENING STORE OR OFFICE REQUIRED TO HAVE SAFETY

Article 136. Authorization

1. For the opening of a store or office requiring certain security measures, the responsible officer will request authorization from the government, which will order the examination and verification of the installed measures. Provisional approval may be granted by the police authority for the opening of the establishment or office for a maximum period of 3 months if the service is temporarily implanted with a security service. In the case of reforms, communication to the police for verification is sufficient.

2. If the inspection is carried out without finding deficiencies, the establishment may continue its activities without the armed guard service, pending final approval instead.

3. If deficiencies are noted, a copy of the inspection report will be given to the company for their correction within a maximum period of one month. The correction should be communicated to the police station for the purposes of a new inspection. During said period, the establishment may remain closed. Once the company or organization has notified the correction, the establishment will be closed until the correction is verified.

4. If the applicant company or entity does not receive any indication or communication from the officer within three months following the date of the request, or one month from the date of filing of the communication on the correction of deficiencies, the opening or transfer of the property may be considered approved, or the reform completed is approved.

5. Non-mandatory security measures and reforms that do not affect the essential elements of the security system should be communicated to the police station before their entry into operation but are not subject to prior authorization.

6. The provisions contained in this Article shall also apply to ATMs in the installation and functioning, modification, or transfer thereof.