Video surveillance storage
The ports' storage of surveillance material is covered by both the General Data Protection Regulation and the TV Surveillance Act.
Deletion
The TV Surveillance Act states that surveillance material containing personal data must generally be deleted after 30 days.
However, under certain circumstances, ports may keep the recordings for longer than 30 days. This may be if it is necessary to retain the recordings for the purpose of reporting a criminal offense or if the port needs the recording for the purpose of a specific dispute.
It may also be if the port needs the recordings for crime prevention purposes. In this context, it is important that the port can document that they have reported the specific circumstances to the police, for example by keeping a copy of the receipt for the report, no later than the expiry of the 30-day deadline.
Access to documents
In addition, ports should be aware that video material is also covered by the Public Access to Public Documents Act, which means that some recordings may also, under certain circumstances, be covered by the Public Access to Information Act and thus the right of access to documents.
However, this requires that it has been received or created by an authority as part of the administrative case processing, for example if it is (exceptionally) included as a document on one of the authority's files.
