Use of cameras in an apartment building
Cameras in apartments
Processing of Personal Data-Video Surveillance Systems
G. Nouskalis, Assistant Professor of the Faculty of Law, AUTH-Lawyer
Installation and operation of closed circuit video surveillance apartment apartment building – the critical issues from the recent jurisprudence of the Independent Data Protection Authority (ApDPH 1/2023 and 21/2025-www.dpa.grr the recent jurisprudence of the APDPH
According to the recent jurisprudence of the APDPH: ‘The installation and operation of the relevant video surveillance system is legal, since, first of all, the conditions of articles 5 (general principles) and 6 (legal basis) GDPR are met cumulatively. European Data Protection Board (hereinafter, EDPB) issued Guidelines 3/20193 on the processing of personal data through video capture devices. Furthermore, the provisions of Directive 1/2011 of the Authority on the issue of the use of video surveillance systems for the purpose of protection of persons and goods must be taken into account in conjunction with the above provisions of the GDPR. The controller pursuant to the principle of accountability in the context of its compliance and documentation, which must take place in a time before the installation and operation of the system (see and decision 43/2019 of the Authority).
In particular, since the field of control of the cameras of a video surveillance system installed in a private house includes only private spaces, then the processing in question is considered a domestic activity (see Recital No. 18 GDPR and article 3 par. 2 of the Directive 1/2011 of the Authority). On the contrary, it is not considered exclusively a personal or domestic activity to take and process an image or sound with a video surveillance system installed in a private house, when the camera control field includes external public or public spaces or spaces belonging to the properties of others, in which case the principles of protection are applied personal data according to the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union. Regarding the more specific issue of the installation of a video surveillance system in residential complexes, Article 15 is provided by the special part of the aforementioned with no. 1/2011 of the Authority’s directive. As mentioned in this article, the installation of a video surveillance system in residential complexes for the safety of common areas and persons circulating in them can only be carried out by decision of the body responsible for the management of the complex (e.g. the general assembly of the apartment building) according to the provisions of the relevant regulation, and not by an individual tenant, and, if there is the consent of two thirds of the tenants of the apartment building (for this opinion, one vote is calculated per residential apartment). The controller of the video surveillance system is the association of persons of the co-owners which operates through the General Assembly of co-owners of the Group and the relevant regulation, where it exists10. As specifically mentioned in article 15, par. 4 of the said no. 1/2011 of the Authority’s directive, installation of a camera by an individual owner or a tenant in a shared parking area of the apartment building or the building for the supervision of a personal vehicle, is allowed under the following conditions: a) be provided for in the regulation of the apartment building or have a co-decision of the of tenants taken as defined in paragraph 1 of this article, b) there is no video surveillance system in the parking lots installed on behalf of the apartment building, c) the camera should only focus on the monitored vehicle and d) the concerned owner or tenant to place with Its own expenses relevant distinct information sign in a prominent place in the parking area. 7. 8. Therefore, in cases of installation of a video surveillance system by a private individual in a shared or in a privately owned area supervising other areas such as the pilot of an apartment building, where the use of the other occupants cannot be excluded, the use of the video surveillance system who supervises the common pilot area of the apartment building in which the complainant parks his car without having ensured that the above conditions are met, as described in Directive 1/2011 of the Authority, excessively infringes the rights of the persons moving In this area, as activities closely related to their personal lives may be monitored. Therefore, since the conditions mentioned above are not met (of article 15 par. 4 of Directive 1/2011 of the Authority) the processing in question is not legal, as article 6 par. 1 f of the GDPR is violated’.