Cameras in the building: what data protection requires

After a few break-ins in the storage rooms, someone proposes cameras. Good idea — with strict rules.

The approval

Installing CCTV in common areas requires a general-meeting resolution by three fifths of owners and shares (it is a new common service). Minuted, with specific locations.

The data protection rules

• An information sign visible at the entrances, naming the controller and where to exercise your rights.
• Cameras may only capture common areas: never the public street (beyond what is strictly unavoidable), nor the inside of other people's parking spaces, nor other buildings' entrances.
• Maximum retention: 30 days (except footage of an incident, preserved for the complaint).
• Restricted access: only the designated person (chair or manager) with a password; no neighbour watching "the camera channel" on their TV.
• A record of processing activities (a simple document that any serious installer hands over already drafted).

The mistake that costs money

A neighbour's "private" camera pointed at the landing or the shared garage: that is unlawful processing of third parties' data, and the data protection authority's fines run into four figures. If there is a security reason, do it properly and jointly.