Safety is important, everywhere and for everyone. With the help of camera surveillance, the location and/or working environment of your company can be made even safer. As an employer, you are of course entitled to a well-secured environment. It is therefore permitted to place a camera at a gas station or in a supermarket where you film customers and employees during a certain part of the day, for example to combat and deter robberies. Although camera surveillance is permitted on your site, you must account for this to the works council and the Dutch Data Protection Authority (CBP) or to the court.
Regulations and camera surveillance
If you use digital recording equipment as an employer, you are obliged to report this to the Dutch DPA. If you, as an employer, install cameras for the security of persons, buildings, sites, business and production processes, you may be released from this obligation on the basis of Article 38 of the exemption decree. Incidentally, an exemption from reporting does not mean that the Personal Data Protection Act no longer applies. All camera systems (whether they record images or not) can be regarded as personnel tracking systems. The works council must therefore give its consent before cameras are installed. In organizations where there is no works council, the staff must in any case be informed about the use that can be made of a camera system, for example to combat theft or fraud. This can possibly take place without the consent of the works council. In practice, however, it is recommended that a company where camera systems are used incidentally does discuss this with the works council and make this known within the company.