What applies to cameras in houses, blocks of flats, apartments and public places

In recent years, the growing desire to enhance security in our homes has led more and more people to adopt new methods. Among these is the installation of cameras. Their presence alone, apart from the sense of security it gives us, is also a deterrent for the perpetrators looking for their next target. However, the installation of cameras in our homes involves certain legal and ethical aspects that we need to consider carefully. In this article, we will look at the current legislation regarding the installation of cameras in apartments, apartment buildings and gatehouses, focusing on the different aspects concerning both privacy and the security of our premises.

Republished from the Citizen’s Guide website

Conditions for the legal placement of a camera at the entrance of an apartment Conditions for the legal placement of a camera outside the entrance of an apartment Opinion of the Personal Data Protection Authority No 5/2017 On the issue of the placement of a camera outside the entrance of apartments in apartment buildings, the Personal Data Protection Authority clarifies, in the form of useful questions and answers, the main points of Opinion 5/2017.

<<Personal Data Protection Authority
1-3 Kifissias Street, 11523 Athens, Greece. Tel: 210 6475696. E-mail: communication_dept2@dpa.gr | www.dpa.gr

Athens, 2/10/2017
Art. no.: Γ/EΞ/7050

PRESS RELEASE

Key points – questions and answers regarding the Authority’s Opinion 5/2017

In response to current reports on the issue of the installation of cameras outside the entrance of apartments in apartment buildings, the Hellenic Data Protection Authority clarifies, in the form of useful questions and answers, the main points of Opinion 5/2017.In general, it is noted that the issue of the use of video surveillance systems in residential or office complexes (e.g. apartment buildings) for the purpose of protecting persons and property is regulated by Article 15 of the Authority’s Directive 1/2011. In these cases, a provision in the Regulation of the condominium or a decision of the General Assembly and at the same time the consent of 2/3 of the residents is required. Surveillance must be limited to common areas (e.g. entrance of a block of flats) and not to the entrances of apartments. – It should be noted that the recent opinion 5/2017 concerns the specific issue of the installation of a camera at the entrance of an apartment by the tenant of the apartment.

1) I live in an apartment in a block of flats and I want to install cameras for security reasons. Where are they allowed? Can I place a camera that monitors the area in front of my front door?

A) You can place cameras that take a picture inside your apartment (but under no circumstances can they take a picture outside your private space – e.g. a camera on the balcony that takes a picture of a public street is not allowed). B) You can install a camera that monitors the absolutely necessary area of your entrance (e.g. to see who rings your doorbell), without recording any video or audio. C) You can install a camera with image recording (in no case audio) and considered as a domestic use (so, as in case B, it will not fall under the personal data legislation), where it is technically feasible to limit the camera’s range to the absolutely necessary space in front of your apartment entrance door, without affecting other apartments in any way. In this case: C1) no image should be taken from other public areas; and C2) depending on the positioning of the entrances to the floor apartments and the lift, the entrance to other apartments or the passage to them should not be affected (monitored, even if only incidentally). In the above three cases (A, B and C) the use of the cameras is considered as domestic and does not fall under the personal data legislation.

2. The positioning of the doors of the apartments on the floor where I live is such that some residents may pass in front of the door of my apartment. How can I install a camera with image recording to control my entrance?

– In this case, there are strict conditions. In particular, before proceeding with the installation of a camera, you must obtain the consent of the floor occupants living in the affected apartments, after providing them with all relevant information on how you intend to operate the camera. In principle, the apartments on the same floor as yours are considered to be affected, except for those to which access, due to the positioning of the doors, does not require passage through the monitored area of the entrance to your apartment. – When unanimity cannot be reached, the procedure of Art. 15 par. 1 of Directive 1/2011, i.e. there must be a prior agreement of 2/3 of the residents of the affected apartments on the floor. – In the above case, you are considered a “controller” for the installation of the camera and therefore you have all the obligations arising from Law no. 2472/1997 and Directive 1/2011, such as submitting a notification to the Authority, satisfying the rights of information, access and objection of the data subjects and respecting the confidentiality and security of processing.

3. What can I do when I find or suspect a breach of the law?

You need to address your questions and/or objections, in principle, to the person on whose behalf the video surveillance system is installed and operated. If you have exercised your rights with the “controller”, you can lodge a complaint with the Authority. Please note that the Authority does not have competence for the operation of a video surveillance system for domestic use (see Article 3 of Directive 1/2011). Communication Department of the Authority

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Opinion 5/2017

In accordance with Article 2(a) of Law No. 2472/1997 and recitals 14-16 in the preamble to Directive 95/46/EC, audio and video data, insofar as they refer to persons, constitute personal data.

When the processing of an image is carried out in the context of activities of an exclusively personal or domestic nature, then it falls outside the scope of the law. 2472/1997 (see article 3 par. 2 letter a of Law 2472/1997). An exclusively personal or domestic activity is understood as one that refers to the private sphere of activity of a person or a family, i.e. one that does not fall within the professional and/or commercial activity of a person or a family and does not have as its purpose or effect the transmission or dissemination of data to third parties (see also Directive 1/2011 of the Authority, article 3)1. In particular, if the scope of control of the cameras of a video surveillance system installed in a private home includes only private premises, the processing in question is considered to be a domestic activity. The Authority, in Article 3, para. 2(b) of the abovementioned Directive further specifies this exception by specifying that the reception and processing of images and/or sound by a video surveillance system installed in a private house is not considered to be an exclusively personal or domestic activity where the field of control of the camera includes outdoor public or common areas. In the cases under consideration, the processing purpose pursued by the installation of a camera in the entrance area of an apartment is limited solely to the protection of the persons living or working there and the property of the occupants of the apartment. It is necessary, for that purpose, in order to monitor persons intending to enter or approaching the apartment, to take a picture of the space in front of the entrance door, which is strictly necessary. However, the scope of the legislation on the protection of personal data must first be examined. If a camera is installed in the entrance area of an apartment used exclusively as a dwelling, where the image obtained is not recorded in any way, the activity (case (a)), although it involves the electronic processing of an image signal, is not substantially different from the surveillance of the area by means of the optical lens mounted on the ‘door mat’. Consequently, this action falls within the scope of the exercise of exclusively personal or domestic activities by a natural person (and therefore Law 2472/1997 does not apply). Where image data is recorded from the entrance area of an apartment used exclusively as a dwelling, but it is technically feasible to limit the field of view of the camera to the absolutely necessary area in front of the entrance door of the apartment, so that only this door and the person in front of it are monitored, without taking a view of other public areas such as stairways or lift doors or of doors or entrance areas of neighbouring apartments (in either direction) and, depending on the layout of the entrances to the floor apartments and the lift, this action (case b) falls within the scope of the exercise of exclusively personal or domestic activities by a natural person. That is because the absolutely necessary space in front of the entrance to the apartment, although it is normally part of the common areas of the complex, constitutes a point of entry to the private area of the apartment and its use must therefore be considered in the light of its inseparable link with the domestic activity. Consequently, the surveillance of that area, which is not public, but a public area with restricted access, does not go beyond the private sphere of the person installing the camera in question.

In other cases, where the legislation on the protection of personal data applies, it is necessary to define the criteria on the basis of which the occupant of the apartment (who is normally the controller), whether a natural person, regardless of whether the apartment is used as a residence or a business premises, or a legal person, can decide on the legality of installing a camera at the entrance of an apartment, on the basis of the principle of proportionality and the provision of Art. 2 e’ of Law No. 2472/1997. The legitimate interest of the controller lies in his or her desire to protect the persons and property of his or her compartment. This legitimate interest is more pronounced if there is an increased likelihood of an incident occurring against those persons and property, such as where there have been previous incidents or where there is evidence (e.g. from the police) indicating an increased likelihood of such incidents occurring, either in the specific housing estate, or in the area of the estate, or, in the case of a business premises, because of the nature of the business being housed. Accordingly, the rights and interests of the persons to whom the data refer and whether their fundamental freedoms are affected should be considered. The data subjects are, as a general rule, the residents and employees of the premises concerned and visitors to those premises who may occasionally be present there. With regard to the latter category, i.e. persons who may occasionally be present in the place under surveillance, the infringement of their rights is also occasional and the specific conditions for the lawfulness of the use of a video surveillance system laid down in the Authority’s Directive 1/2011 are sufficient to protect them. On the contrary, persons who normally live or work on this floor for a long period of time may reasonably consider that the installation of a camera in close proximity to the entrance of their apartment directly infringes their right to the protection of their personal data and possibly also their right to the free development of their personality, as their entry and exit from the premises may be monitored. A balance must therefore be struck between that infringement and the legitimate interest pursued by the occupant of the apartment who installs the camera. Where the controller carries out surveillance of the entrance area of an apartment used as a business premises in the manner described in paragraphs 8 and 9 herein (case (a): system without recording, case (b): system with recording provided that the coverage is limited to the strictly necessary area in front of the door and depending on the layout of the entrances of the floor apartments or the lift), the processing shall be deemed not to infringe the principle of proportionality, as described in paragraphs 8 and 9 herein (case (a): system without recording, case (b): system with recording provided that the coverage is limited to the strictly necessary area in front of the door and depending on the layout of the entrances of the floor apartments or the lift). This is because the gravity of the infringement in case (a) is clearly mitigated, since the control of the entrance is carried out in real time, without any recording of the image data of the subjects. In case (b), the controller limits the surveillance to the space strictly necessary for access to his apartment, without there being any direct and specific infringement of the rights of third parties (including those living or working on the same floor).

If, however, the image data are recorded and the range of the camera, for technical reasons, in particular due to the location of the entrances to the apartments and the lift on the floor, cannot be limited to the strictly necessary space in front of the entrance to the apartment, regardless of whether the apartment is used as a residence or a business premises, processing shall be permitted provided that the following criteria are met. In particular, the installation of the camera shall be permitted with the prior consent of the occupants of the floor living in the apartments affected by the installation of the camera and whose doors or entrance area to the apartments are within the range of the camera (case c). To this end, the tenant installing the camera must, as controller, ensure that the consent of the occupants of the affected apartments is obtained by providing them in advance with all information relating to the video surveillance system (see Article 12 of Directive 1/2011), including the exact range of the camera. In case unanimity cannot be reached, the procedure of Article 15(1)(b) of Directive 2006/112/EC should be followed in part. 1 of Directive 1/2011, i.e. there should be a prior agreement of 2/3 of the occupants of the affected apartments on the floor. One vote per occupied (or used) affected apartment is taken into account for the formation of the consensus. Affected apartments shall in principle be considered to be those located on the same floor as that of the controller, except for those to which access, due to the positioning of their doors, does not require passage through the supervised entrance area of the controller’s apartment. Finally, it is stressed that the occupant of the apartment who is the controller is subject to all the obligations of Law 2472/1997 and Directive 1/2011. It is also pointed out that any transmission of image data from a video surveillance system to third parties (other than law enforcement authorities or courts) renders the use non-domestic, without exception. For example, posting a video on a website or even showing it to third parties makes a natural person responsible for the processing. Such a transfer is generally not allowed with the exception of cases where Article 9 of the Authority’s Directive 1/2011 applies. Finally, in no case may audio data be received or recorded, which by definition is considered as processing of personal data.