Updated CCTV guidance issued by the ICO has warned that surveillance cameras must only be used as necessary and proportionate to address real and pressing concerns.

"In the picture: A data protection code of practice for surveillance cameras and personal information" was published on 15 October and replaces guidance last issued in 2008 to address data privacy concerns around technologies such as Automatic Number Plate Recognition, body-worn video and drones.

The updated code explains how surveillance systems can be used to process personal information; the issues that operators should consider before installing such technologies, including the need for privacy impact assessments to determine the effectiveness and how proportionate the solution would be to addressing the issue; the measures that should be in place to ensure excessive amounts of personal information are not being collected, and the procedures organisations should have to ensure information is kept secure and destroyed when it is no longer required.

The code complements the provisions of the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice, which applies to police forces, local authorities and police and crime commissioners in England and Wales, as described in the Protection of Freedoms Act. The code covers a wider area as the requirements of the UK Data Protection Act apply to all sectors processing personal information across the whole of the UK, including the private sector. The Data Protection Act does not,  however, apply to people using CCTV for domestic use.

A copy of the code is available here.