The first fine imposed by the President of the PL SA in relation to private surveillance

A fine of over 26,000 PLN is to be imposed on a person who failed to comply with a decision by the President of the Personal Data Protection Office ordering them to cease processing personal data through video surveillance that covers, amongst other things, a public road.

Ignoring an order from the supervisory authority can prove very costly. This is the case for an individual who installed cameras recording both video and audio around the clock, not only on their private property but also in the area beyond it – a public road and neighbouring properties. The individual’s neighbours lodged complaints regarding this matter with the President of the Personal Data Protection Office. Their complaints proved to be well-founded, as, following administrative proceedings, the President of the Personal Data Protection Office ordered the cessation of the processing of the complainants’ personal data via video surveillance – in relation to their image and voice, covering the public road and the complainants’ properties – due to the lack of a legal basis for such processing.

The owner of the monitoring system had seven days to remove the cameras or reposition them so that they covered only his property. He did not lodge an appeal against the decision of the President of the Personal Data Protection Office with the Voivodeship Administrative Court in Warsaw; consequently, the decision became final. Nor did he comply with the supervisory authority’s decision, despite a formal warning from the Personal Data Protection Office. Letters from the Office were not collected and, following two notices of delivery – pursuant to Article 44(4) of the Code of Administrative Procedure – were deemed to have been served on the addressee.

Mirosław Wróblewski, President of the Personal Data Protection Office, has therefore initiated further administrative proceedings – this time with a view to imposing an administrative fine for failure to comply with the order issued by the supervisory authority, namely the obligation to remove or reposition the cameras in such a way as to avoid processing neighbours’ data. The consequence of failing to comply with the President of the Personal Data Protection Office’s order is, in fact, the continued unlawful processing by the controller of the personal data of many individuals. This gives them a sense of being constantly observed and having their private lives monitored, including data on their location. The controller processes their image and voice in the places where they are present and move about on a daily basis in connection with their normal use of public roads.

The controller does not have the right to monitor these areas using such an intrusive method as the constant monitoring and processing of the personal data of the people present there – in every situation and every day. Furthermore, the failure to comply with the order issued by the President of the Personal Data Protection Office, which lasted for almost half a year and was entirely unjustified, must be regarded as a prolonged breach, and the supervisory authority treated it as one of the aggravating circumstances in determining the amount of the administrative fine imposed.

The fine for failing to comply with an order issued by the supervisory authority may amount to a maximum of 20 million euros. In this case, it amounted to 26,711 PLN. Failure to pay this fine will result in the Tax Office taking action to enforce the debt, and to this end it may seize the person’s wages, bank accounts and any other assets at their disposal.

Text of the decision: DKE.561.4.2026