Security Guard Services in Madagascar

How to Become a Licensed Security Guard in Madagascar

According to a DCAF study, Madagascar has no law specific to private security companies, but the activity is regulated and subject to prior authorization from the supervising ministry, the Ministry of the Interior. No national license or mandatory training standard for officers has been identified.

Supervising authority: Ministry of the Interior (Ministère de l’Intérieur), the supervising ministry according to the DCAF. There is no law specific to private security. The DCAF states that the applicable rules are the law on commercial companies and its implementing decree, the Labor Code, the social protection codes and a 1960 law on the regime for arms.

Requirements

• No mandatory national standard for officer training has been identified. According to the DCAF, most companies train new officers for about one to three weeks before they take up their posts, each under its own program.
• According to the DCAF, the Malagasy Private Security Academy (Académie de Sécurité Privée Malagasy, ASPM), a private training center approved by the Ministry of Employment, Technical Education and Vocational Training (Ministère de l’Emploi, de l’Enseignement Technique et de la Formation Professionnelle, MEETFP), is the only center authorized to issue professional cards to the officers it trains.
• Serving gendarmes may not run a business or practice another trade or profession (Decree 69-232, Article 108).
• Police officers may not engage in any paid private activity that falls under the direct oversight of their service (police statute, Article 13).

Agency Licensing

According to the DCAF, private security is a regulated activity subject to prior authorization from the supervising ministry (Ministry of the Interior). Applicants undergo a character investigation and a commodo et incommodo inquiry into possible nuisances, and authorization is granted if both are favorable. The study notes that approval may also go through an interministerial technical committee, but presents this only as a possibility. Since 2005, companies established in the Analamanga region (Antananarivo) register with the one-stop shop of the Economic Development Board of Madagascar (EDBM). Elsewhere, authorization is issued by the regional prefecture. The DCAF states that new authorizations were officially suspended at the time of the study.

The DCAF describes the 1960 law on the regime for arms as follows. Individuals and companies may not, in principle, acquire or hold first category weapons (weapons of war) (Article 38). On a reasoned request, a company may be authorized to hold second category weapons (defensive weapons), for example for guarding or cash transport, with each weapon authorized in the name of the head of the company (Article 39). The arms trade requires prior authorization issued jointly by the Ministry of the Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior.

Sources

• DCAF: Madagascar study on private military and security companies (Haja Andrianjafy and Sanaty Mohamed), full study
• DCAF: Madagascar study summary

Regulations change. Confirm current rules with the competent official authority before taking any steps. This summary provides general information and is not legal advice. Last updated November 2026.