How GDPR will affect corporate video surveillance systems

If you are an employer and have a CCTV system in your company to protect your building and property, you will have new obligations with the advent of GDPR. However, experts do not yet agree on the extent of these changes.

As the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) deadline approaches, more and more questions are swarming from the various areas that may be affected by the regulation. One of them is CCTV systems in companies.

However, there are differing views on how the GDPR will specifically affect these systems. According to some lawyers, camera operators will have to have explicit (written) consent from all the people they monitor. But according to other experts, such changes will not be necessary and it will still be enough if employees are informed about the monitoring. In any case, it will probably be necessary to balance the need for building security and employees' right to privacy in some way.

In this context, legal advisers point out that where processing is lawful for some reason, there is no need to seek consent and that such an unnecessary request for consent is considered by the Data Protection Authority to be a breach of the law.

In particular, it will be important that monitoring information is clearly and understandably displayed in prominent places (entrance doors, exits). It will be necessary to include the contact details of the system operator and the purposes for which the recordings are made.

At the same time, experts agree that the effectiveness of the GDPR should not invalidate the opinions and decisions issued by the OCC in relation to CCTV systems to date.

If you want to know the answers to specific questions regarding your company or your CCTV system, please contact us.