Spain: Video Surveillance Act
01 July 1997
On 6 August the new Video Surveillance Law came into effect, regulating the use of video cameras in public places by state security agencies. The installation of fixed cameras will now require a permit from the local interior ministry office, issued only on the basis of a report from a commission chaired by a justice of the High Court of the relevant Autonomous Community. In urgent cases images may be recorded on a portable camera without a permit, but the commission must be informed within 72 hours. The Interior Ministry will be obliged to give details of the areas covered by cameras, and the police will have to inform a magistrate within 72 hours of having viewed recordings. All recordings not to be used in legal proceedings or for other valid reasons must be erased within a month. Every citizen will have the right to view any tapes on which they are recorded, and to demand their erasure if no charges have been brought against them, but the police can refuse to erase tapes on grounds of national security or defence.