New regulation for field safety, guide certification

Posted on 7. June 2025 by Rolf Stange

These issues have been under discussion for ages, and now the government has made decisions and, according to an official press release, announced both new regulations on field safety, i.e. for all traffic outside the settlements of Svalbard, and for a compulsory certification scheme for guides.

Both have been under discussion for a long time, in particular a certification scheme for guides. To date, this designation has been unprotected in Svalbard and, apart from a licence to carry a weapon, no formally verified qualifications are required to work as a guide in Svalbard. This is about to change: Appropriate certification will be required from 2027.

Anything can fall under the heading of ‘field safety’, from the question of how to secure camps from polar bear visits to whether or not a weapon should be carried in a car, for example on the road in Adventdalen (at least that was once under discussion). However, a large part of the regulations in question will probably only apply outside administrative area 10. This area includes a large land area around Longyearbyen (Nordenskiöld Land) and Pyramiden (Dickson Land) as well as a smaller area around Ny-Ålesund. Locals and tourists should still be able to move around relatively easily in these areas.

Guide at work (as polar bear guard): from 2027 with certificate.

What exactly this will look like, what is required to get this certification, whether every guide must have it or only the leading guides in the team, and what exactly the field safety regulations will require, I can’t say yet. The press release is from yesterday (6 June), I am currently sailing on SV Meander and the days are long and full, so there is no way to read the attached documents in full, and whether these ‘details’ have all been finalised is not yet clear. I will return to the subject here as soon as I have time and the relevant information is available.

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