Any CCTV system used to record images of individuals must comply with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998. Failure to do so may result in a fine by the government of up to £5000 for the system owner. Some systems may be exempt from the act, an example of these, is those that do not record and those that are installed in a private residence.

What do you have to do to comply with the act?

1. Register
The system owners must notify the Government's Information Commissioners Office that they are processing data in the form of CCTV recordings. This can be done on-line at www.dataprotection.gov.uk or by post (call 01625 545700 to request an application form). The charge for registering is currently £35. This must be done whether recording on analogue or digital recorders and renewed on an annual basis.

2. Signs
Signs must be mounted adjacent to the entrance to areas where CCTV is in operation. For external areas where CCTV is in operation signs should be fitted to the perimeter or approaches.

3. Security
Recording equipment (i.e. Video Recorders, including Hard Drive and PC based systems, etc...) and Recording Media (i.e. Video Cassettes, Hard Drives, etc...) should be held in a secure area (such as a locked room or office) or in purpose made secure storage cabinets and accessible only by individuals responsible for the operation of the system. Obviously with digital recording password protection and internal hardisk storage, often for a whole month, eliminates these requirements.

4. Audit Trail
All non-hard drive recordings, i.e. on to video cassettes, CD's, video prints, etc must carry a unique serial number that links with an entry in to a recordings log book. Digital recorders will enable the whole recording for the period to be stored in internal storage; this will save on management time and paperwork.

5. Erasing media
For all non-hard drive based systems, the medium (i.e. video cassettes, etc...) on which the images are captured should be erased before re-use so that images are not recorded on top of images recorded previously, this would involve th e use of a degausser. Digital recorders will format the segment in front of the recording point thus automatically fulfilling this requirement and again saving management time.

A video recording tape deteriorates with every use. At the end of a recording mediums useful life it is recommended that you destroy it. The home office recommendation on this is only 12 uses for a video tape. The hard disks in our digital recorders are rated for 120,000 hours (over 10 years) and picture quality does not deteriorate with use.

6. Privacy
All recordings must be held in a secure manner accessible only to individuals and organisations named in a site-specific code of practice. If cameras are capable of viewing areas where an individual may have a reasonable right to privacy e.g. within his/her home some form of physical masking or electronic privacy zoning should be installed. Our digital video recorders can be programmed to record only when there is activity in an area of interest to your business.

This is only a basic overview of the Data Protection act and CCTV.

Full details of the act can be found at www.dataprotection.gov.uk