The use of closed circuit television (CCTV) and surveillance cameras at residential houses needs to be regulated, legal researchers have recommended. Law No. 9/2011 regulating the use of Security and Surveillance CCTV Camera and devices needs an executive regulation and must include regulation of CCTV in residential houses taking into account the privacy protection, security requirements and the interest of the society, said a research paper unveiled by the Center of Legal and Judicial Studies (CLJS) at the Ministry of Justice, Qatar. Highlights of the research are posted at the website of the Ministry of Interior.
The law stipulates two conditions related to the timing of CCTV usage: first is to operate the CCTV round-the-clock and controlled from a control room. The law also indicates that all records need to be saved without any changes for 120 days in order to be submitted to the authority concerned if needed, and deleted thereafter.
The law requires all public areas in compounds and residential towers such as pool areas, clubhouses, streets, sidewalks, underground parking, and boundary walls to be monitored on camera to comply with the law. Researchers explained that the law underlines that all CCTV content should be destroyed or deleted without keeping any part of the records in any form after the 120 days stipulated in the law.
According to the research paper the law also stipulates that the number and locations of CCTVs need to be identified by the authority concerned in order to meet the purpose of their installations. It has been also made mandatory by the same to the owners of institutions using CCTVs to put a note in Arabic and English in visible place mentioning that the enterprise is monitored by surveillance cameras.
Inspectors from the competent authority have the right to check that the CCTVs are operating properly, and they are in the right places and types, and models of the devices meet the specification and requirements set up by the law. The individual’s privacy is also highlighted by the law and operators are not allowed to interfere in the individual’s affairs and their families, accommodation and correspondences, in addition to prohibition of content transfer unless it is required by authority concerned.
