Three benchmarks for reading a security sheet
The acronyms on rental brochures are not all equivalent.
- INCERT (Belgium)Belgian quality mark for protection against theft in buildings, awarded under a national product certification regulation. A high grade attests certified resistance, not a sales promise. See the INCERT website.
- EN 1143-1 (Europe)European standard that classifies safes, cash dispensers, strongroom doors and strongrooms by their burglary resistance, measured in standardised laboratory tests. See the AFNOR record of the standard (in French).
- A2P (France)Certification issued by the CNPP, a benchmark for burglary protection: safes undergo attack testing and are then classified by resistance level; high-security locks fall under the EN 1300 standard. See the CNPP page.
What matters is that the provider can produce the certificate covering its strongroom and its locks: a document naming the certifying body, not a logo on a leaflet.
What to check with any provider
- The strongroom certificateName of the standard, certifying body, grade obtained: ask for the document, not an assertion.
- Continuous monitoringRemote monitoring 24 hours a day and an alert chain to intervention services.
- Access controlBiometrics, access card, key and personal code: several factors must combine before anyone reaches a box.
- The privacy arrangementA space out of camera sight must allow you to handle your valuables without witnesses.
- The written contractDuration, termination, lost-key procedure: everything must be in writing before signature.
The example of the Dottignies (Mouscron) strongroom
In 2012, Gold & Silver Company opened the first private safe deposit box rooms outside the banking system in Belgium. The strongroom in Dottignies (Mouscron) sits inside fully armoured premises: certified strongroom door fitted with a time lock, built to the latest seismic-vibration resistance standards, and certified INCERT grade 3. Visitors come in through a filmed intercom; the reception area opens by facial recognition, and an agent on duty during opening hours answers within the minute, at the intercom or in person. Monitoring runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week: video, motion detection and micro-seismic detection. A police station stands 100 metres away; intervention by law enforcement takes less than five minutes. The details of the system are not published: discretion is part of security, for the strongroom and its renters alike.
The renter enters the box alone: access card, key and personal code, the code typed out of sight. Inside the strongroom itself, a cabin out of camera sight lets the renter open the box and handle its contents without witnesses. Those contents are known only to the renter and, where one has been appointed, to the proxy: the company, by design, does not know them.
And for custody without a named box?
The numbered formula answers a different need: keeping valuables without renting a box in your name. Here, valuables are not stored under the customer's name: they rest under a number, in a shared custody area protected by the same system as the boxes, with insurance up to 10 million euros. As for any rental, an identity document is shown at subscription; the terms and price of this formula are published on the official Gold & Silver Company page.
Physical security and contractual security are two distinct things: the first protects against break-in, the second defines who may do what. For questions of ownership, inheritance or taxation, as the regulations stand, the right interlocutor remains your notary, your lawyer or your tax adviser.
Frequently asked questions
What does "INCERT grade 3" mean for a strongroom?
INCERT is the Belgian quality mark for protection against theft in buildings: it certifies products and installations under a national regulation, with grades that reflect the resistance level achieved in testing. A strongroom certified INCERT grade 3, like that of Gold & Silver Company in Dottignies (Mouscron), therefore displays resistance measured by a Belgian body, not merely claimed by the provider.
What exactly does the EN 1143-1 standard classify?
The European standard EN 1143-1 sets the requirements, classification and test methods for the burglary resistance of secure storage units: safes, automated teller machines, strongroom doors and strongrooms. Products are attacked in laboratories with standardised tools, then classified according to the time and means needed to force them.
What does A2P certification attest?
Issued by the CNPP, the French prevention and testing body, A2P certification attests through testing that a safe resists attempted break-in and unauthorised opening, including with recent tools. It classifies products by resistance category and also covers high-security locks within the meaning of the EN 1300 standard. Insurers rely on it when estimating the insurable value of the contents.
Is my visit to my box filmed?
Handling the contents falls under a different regime. In Dottignies (Mouscron), a cabin shielded from the cameras, inside the strongroom, lets you open your box and handle its contents without witnesses: monitoring covers the protection of the site, never what you deposit.
Can an employee open my box in my absence?
In everyday use, no: opening the box requires the renter's access card, key and personal code, entered out of sight. What a box holds is known only to its renter and, where one has been appointed, to the proxy: the company, by design, does not know it.