Due to security, various types of crime such as thefts, burglaries, car break-ins, more and more citizens install video surveillance in front of their private homes.
But the Agency for the Protection of Personal Data had more complaints from neighbors because the surveillance cameras also recorded their personal property, and not just the area in front of the house of the person who installed it, as it should be by law.
The Agency states that no one has the right to film a neighbor or the space in front of his house. Violating someone’s privacy is not only ugly and rude, but also illegal.
Recently, however, residents of residential buildings have also had ideas about installing surveillance cameras.
Thus, a reader contacted our editorial office (name and surname known to the editorial office) who claims that drug addicts gather behind his building in Sarajevo and consume drugs there.
That is why he has the idea to install video surveillance in front of the building. Given that he intends to place cameras also behind the building, where addicts gather, and in that part there is only green space and trees, that camera would record only them.
Who has the right to install video surveillance?
We contacted the Agency for the Protection of Personal Data of Bosnia and Herzegovina and asked who has the right, how and where to install surveillance cameras.
– When it comes to video surveillance in collective housing buildings and decision-making by apartment owners, including the decision to introduce video surveillance, relevant laws are those that regulate the maintenance and management of common areas in buildings. In this case, the community of apartment owners is obliged to pass a decision with the necessary two-thirds majority, which will contain the rules of processing during video surveillance, with the aim of respecting the right to privacy and personal life of the data holder.
Video surveillance can only include access to entrances and exits from residential buildings, and common rooms in a residential building.
It is mandatory to highlight in a visible place the notification about video surveillance and the contact through which details about video surveillance can be obtained. The controller’s right to protect personal property and to establish video surveillance for this purpose is indisputable, but at the same time they must take into account the rights of other persons – the Agency for the Protection of Personal Data of Bosnia and Herzegovina told Faktor.
Privacy protection
Therefore, if the community of apartment owners intends to legally establish video surveillance for the purpose of protecting property and common areas, then they are obliged to fulfill the obligations from the Personal Data Protection Act. An individual as a condominium owner can install video surveillance only if it is aimed exclusively at his property, i.e. the front door of the apartment, without recording the common areas.
– The space in front of residential buildings is a publicly accessible place, which should be accessible without any restrictions to tenants and other persons who use it for their own needs or move through that space. According to the legal regulations governing the powers of internal affairs bodies and police officers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the processing of personal data through video surveillance cameras in public areas such as parking lots and the like can only be carried out by internal affairs bodies for the purpose of performing police work to prevent crimes or maintain order and security – the Agency adds.
Therefore, video surveillance on public areas can only be carried out by the police and that for the performance of tasks within their jurisdiction. The agency acts daily on citizens’ complaints related to the establishment and use of video surveillance systems, which indicates the frequency of privacy protection issues in this area.
Natural persons may not continuously monitor and record a public area, for example through fixed cameras.
Therefore, you can place the camera only in front of your door, for the protection of personal safety and property, but only on the condition that you record the entrance to your apartment, if it is at all feasible. You may not record your neighbor’s door, or invade other people’s privacy.
It is the same with the story at the beginning of the text. You must not film public areas, no matter what happened there, it says Factor.
