Italian Data Protection Authority: reminder to Confcommercio on the abuses of video surveil-lance in shops.

The Italian Data Protection Authority has sent a letter to the president of Confcommercio-Imprese per l'Italia, to report the increasingly widespread misuse of video surveillance systems in shops and urge concrete actions to prevent abuse, protect privacy and initiate effective forms of collaboration against the phenomenon.

The intervention of the Guarantor follows the numerous reports that emerged from the checks carried out by the police, the privacy protection unit of the Guardia di Finanza and the local police, which led to fines, even of thousands of euros, against commercial establishments that used video surveillance systems that did not comply with privacy legislation.

The most frequent violations concerned the absence of information signs, the use of cameras pointed at public areas or other people's property, in some cases unauthorized audio recordings and storage of images beyond the allowed time limits. More serious are the cases in which cameras were even used to monitor employees, without respecting the guarantees provided for by the Workers' Statute.

In the letter, the Authority refers to the Guidelines 3/2019 of the European Data Protection Board as a reference for the correct use of video surveillance systems, together with the dedicated thematic page available on its institutional website. The aim is to ensure safety within commercial activities in full respect of the privacy of citizens and workers and to avoid any sanctions by the Authority, in particular against local shops and small businesses.