The use of body cameras by ticket inspectors and the information obligation

Poland should join the case before the Court of Justice of the EU regarding the preliminary question on how to fulfill the information obligation concerning the processing of data collected by body cameras used by ticket inspectors. The ruling could impact the application of national law.

This concerns case no. C-422/24 Storstockholms Lokaltrafik (protection of personal data – the right to information and access to personal data collected via body cameras). The President of the Personal Data Protection Office shared this opinion with Minister Agnieszka Bartol-Saurel from the Chancellery of the Prime Minister.

The preliminary ruling request describes a situation involving ticket inspectors equipped with body cameras. The cameras were intended to prevent threats and acts of violence, as well as to assist in verifying the identity of passengers required to pay an additional fee.

The body cameras used by ticket inspectors recorded both image and sound. Initially, the recordings were automatically deleted after two minutes, and later after one minute. However, inspectors were required to stop the deletion process if they imposed a penalty on a passenger or if they heard threats from them. In such cases, the system retained the recording that started one minute before the inspector halted the deletion.

The French court had doubts regarding the source of personal data collection, and consequently, the application of the appropriate provision of the GDPR to the information obligation. The preliminary question included whether, in the situation described above, Article 13 of the GDPR (the information obligation regarding data collected directly from the data subject) or Article 14 of the GDPR (the information obligation in the case of collecting data from indirect sources, i.e., not from the data subject) should apply.

The President of the Personal Data Protection Office believes that in the case of processing personal data collected through video surveillance, including body cameras, Article 13 of Regulation 2016/679 should apply. Poland should present this position to the Court.