Bavarian Data Protection Authority Issues Guidance Paper On Video Surveillance Under The General Data Protection Regulation

On 6 July 2016, the Bavarian Data Protection Authority issued a brief guidance paper on video surveillance under the new EU General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR").

This short paper is the first issue within a series of non-binding guidance papers on selected topics in relation to the GDPR, which the Bavarian Data Protection Authority has planned to publish periodically, and which can be found here.

The Bavarian Data Protection Authority's startling first finding is that, contrary to the current legal framework under the German Federal Data Protection Act (Bundesdatenschutzgesetz – BDSG), the GDPR does not contain guidance on the regulatory requirements for video surveillance. Rather, under the GDPR, legitimacy of video surveillance measures shall be caught by the general Article 6(1)(f) GDPR, pursuant to which processing shall be lawful if "processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by the controller or by a third party,