People ask us whether process servers are licensed in British Columbia, usually because they are about to hire one and want to know what they are checking.

The answer is more interesting than yes or no, and the useful version of it is this: the act of serving a document is not regulated work in BC. The act of finding the person is. Most files involve both, and the boundary between them runs straight through the middle of the job.

What the Security Services Act actually covers

BC regulates a defined set of activities under the Security Services Act. The definition of security work in s.1 is a closed list, and it is worth reading in full because the closure is the point:

"security work" means the work of, or any aspect of the services provided by, any of the following: (a) an armoured car guard service; (b) a locksmith; (c) a private investigator; (d) a security alarm service; (e) a security consultant; (f) a security guard service; (g) a body armour salesperson

Seven items. Process serving is not among them, and it does not appear anywhere else in the Act's definitions either. The Security Services Regulation is equally clear when it sets out the categories of security worker licence at s.15(4) — armoured car guard, locksmith, private investigator, security alarm installer, security alarm monitor, security alarm response, security alarm sales, security consultant, security guard, closed circuit television installer, electronic locking device installer, body armour sales, and the supervised variants of several of those. There is no process server category, because process serving is not the kind of work this statute regulates.

So the direct answer: there is no BC security licence for serving documents, and a firm that serves documents and does nothing else does not need one.

That is genuinely the answer to the question as most people ask it. It is also where most articles on the subject stop, and stopping there is what causes the problem.

The part that is licensed

Read the same section's definition of a private investigator:

"private investigator" means a person who, for consideration, seeks or obtains information about any of the following: (a) crimes, offences, contraventions or misconduct; (b) the activities, character or repute of a person or organization; (c) the whereabouts of a person; (d) the location, disposition or recovery of lost, stolen or missing property; (e) the cause of or the responsibility for any fire, accident or incident

Paragraph (c). The whereabouts of a person.

This definition is written around an activity, not around a job title. It does not say "a person who calls themselves a private investigator". It says a person who, for consideration, seeks or obtains information about where somebody is. If that is what you are being paid to do, you are within the definition, and s.2 requires a licence to do security work or to hold yourself out as doing it, while s.11 requires a security business licence to carry on the business at all.

Nothing turns on what the invoice calls it. "Locate service", "address confirmation", "attempt to find", "tracing" — the statutory test is the activity, and none of those descriptions move it outside paragraph (c).

Why this matters on a real file

A straightforward service is exactly what it sounds like. You have a name and a current address, the person is there, the document is handed over, an affidavit follows. Nothing about that engagement touches the Security Services Act.

The awkward files are the common ones. The address is two years old. The person has moved and left no forwarding details. They know a document is coming and have arranged not to be findable. Now the job has quietly changed shape: before anyone can serve anything, somebody has to establish where this person is.

That work is the licensed part, and it does not stop being the licensed part because it is being done by the same firm, on the same file, under the same fee, as a step towards service.

The failure mode is not usually a firm deciding to break the rules. It is a firm that set itself up honestly to serve documents, taking on the locating work because the client needed it and it seemed like the same job. It is not the same job. It is the one the legislature chose to regulate.

What to ask before you hire

Four questions, and they take a minute.

"Is any part of this file about locating the person, or do we have a confirmed current address?" Ask it of yourself first. This determines which of the following questions matter, and the honest answer on a surprising number of files is "we think we know where they are".

"If you cannot serve at the address I give you, what happens next?" This is the question that exposes the boundary. If the answer involves finding out where the person went, you have moved into licensed territory and the next question applies. If the answer is "we report back to you unserved", you are buying service only, which is a perfectly reasonable thing to buy.

"Are you licensed under the Security Services Act, and what is the number?" Only necessary if locating is in scope — but if it is, this is not a formality. A business holds one security business licence; the scope of what it may do is set on that single licence. Ours appears in the footer of every page on this site.

"What will the affidavit say?" Service is only useful if it is provable. This article is about the licensing question, which is a question about who may lawfully do the work. How service must be effected and proved for your particular proceeding is governed by the court rules that apply to it, and that is a question for your lawyer or the court registry rather than for a security firm. Do not let a confident answer from a vendor substitute for that.

Two honest caveats

We have addressed one statute. The Security Services Act is the answer to "does this need a security licence in BC". It is not the answer to every regulatory question that could touch a process-serving business — ordinary municipal business licensing, for instance, is a separate matter and applies to businesses generally.

A licence is a floor, not a recommendation. Confirming that a firm holds the licence its work requires tells you it has cleared the regulatory minimum. It tells you nothing about whether the file will be handled competently, documented properly, or reported honestly when the person cannot be found. Those are questions about the firm.

The line, stated once

Serving a document is not security work in British Columbia. Finding the person so that a document can be served is, because seeking information about the whereabouts of a person is inside the statutory definition of a private investigator, whatever the service is called on the invoice.

If your file is a clean address and a handover, licensing is not your concern and you should not let anyone tell you otherwise. If your file involves finding somebody, ask for the licence number — and be more careful with a firm that treats the question as unnecessary than with one that answers it in a sentence.

Sources

  • Security Services Act (SBC 2007, c. 30), s.1 definitions of "security work" and "private investigator"; s.2 licence required; s.11 security business licence required — https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/00_07030_01
  • Security Services Regulation (BC Reg 207/2008), s.15(4) categories of security worker licence — https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/lc/statreg/207_2008