New CCTV legislation in Scotland

Story link: New CCTV legislation in Scotland by Jan Harris

New CCTV legislation will come into force in Scotland, on 1 November, which requires anyone operating a CCTV system on a contract to have a separate licence.

The new licences for individuals mean that an operator of CCTV equipment which is monitoring members of the public will probably need a license from the Security Industry Authority.

The law, which aims to improve levels of training and professionalism in the security industry, is already in effect in England and Wales.

It requires a background check to be carried out into anyone applying for a licence, in an effort to remove criminal elements from the private security industry.

Operators working directly for the company whose premises are under surveillance by the system will not need to apply for a license, as background checks are likely to have already been carried out by the company they are working for.

According to a report in ‘The Register’, around 95% of CCTV cameras fail to comply with the Data Protection Act and the introduction of the new legislation in Scotland is likely to make even more systems illegal.

The website quotes Bernie Brooks of CCTV compliance consultancy DatPro as saying that, in his experience, up to 95 percent of CCTV systems operating in the UK are illegal.

They fail to comply with rules such as alerting the Information Commissioner that CCTV is in operation and displaying warning signs that recording is taking place.

This view backs up an earlier research by Camerawatch, which found that over 90 per cent of 4.2 million CCTV systems in the UK failed to comply with the Data Protection Act.