The AEPD publishes a guide to adapt the use of video cameras to the RGPD

This manual includes the provisions of the RGPD that affect the processing carried out with video cameras in security environments as well as for other purposes..

The Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) has published a guide that analyzes the use of video cameras both for personal safety purposes, goods and facilities, as for different uses such as the control of work activity, recordings of sessions of collegiate bodies or capturing images at school events.

‘Data protection: Guide on the use of video cameras for security and other purposes’ includes the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that affect the treatments carried out using these devices.

In this sense, the regulation, applicable from the past 25 of may, incorporates a set of obligations and principles that must be contemplated when dealing with images collected through video cameras. In addition, the GDPR displaces most of the Instruction 1/2006 of the AEPD on the processing of personal data for surveillance purposes through camera or video camera systems.

The document is divided into two main blocks. The first of them details the principles of the GDPR that must be evaluated when treating images captured by video cameras for security purposes.. Among these principles is proactive responsibility, under which a series of actions must be carried out, how to assess whether the images captured are proportional to the purpose pursued and adopt measures such as keeping a record of processing activities or reporting security breaches.

Within this block, specific cases of image processing for security purposes are listed, such as those that can be carried out, inter alia, the Security Forces and Bodies, financial entities, jewelry stores, private detectives, communities of owners or areas such as critical infrastructure, sporting events or school environments.

In the second block, the Guide addresses the use of video cameras for purposes other than security. Within this area is the use of cameras for traffic control., recording and taking photographs at school events, as well as the recording of meetings held by the collegiate bodies of Public Administrations and assemblies., inter alia.

The document dedicates a specific section to the use of so-called emerging technologies, how to have cameras on board, distinguishing between those cases in which the recording of images with this technology is done for domestic use from those in which the purpose is to obtain evidence to determine possible responsibilities in the event of accidents or traffic incidents.. This section also addresses the capture and processing of images from cameras incorporated into drones..

Finally, The Guide reviews the cases in which data protection regulations are not applicable., such as the processing of images in the exclusively personal and domestic sphere or the use of simulated cameras.