RADIOTELEVISIÓN DEL PRINCIPADO DE ASTURIAS – €26,000 Fine (Spain, 2021)

Following a complaint, the Spanish DPA (AEPD) launched an investigation of a public radio-tv company that was using a video surveillance system on their premises. The complainant alleged that the company had kept images during more than a year, as more than a year after recording them they were able to provide them to a court that asked for them. Additionally, the AEPD noted that one of the system's cameras were pointing to the door of the employees' resting room, in order to control access to it. However, the camera also recorded images of part of the room itself, including a table and two chairs, a bulletin board, and two vending machines. The AEPD concluded, in the first place, that even if there might had been an infringement in the storage of the images for more than a year, the violation was already prescribed, according to the [https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-1999-23750 former Spanish Data Protection Act], as more than two years had passed since the moment in which the controller handled the images to the court. On the other hand, the AEPD found that the controller had violated Article 5(1)(c) GDPR when recording part of the employees' resting room. Even if the [https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2015-11430 Spanish Workers' Statute] allows under its Article 20(3) the employer to use different methods of control and surveillance, the [https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2018-16673 Spanish Data Protection Act] regulates the use of videocameras in the workplace. Its Article 89 allows for the use of videocameras, but specifically prohibits the recording of images of resting places for employees. Therefore, the controller illegally recorded such images, and hence violated Article 5(1)(c) GDPR, for processing inadequate and irrelevant personal data of its employees. The AEPD suggested that, if they needed to record images of the door providing access to the room, they could either move the camera, so the angle was the appropriate o