SAFETY AND PRIVACY: the installation of video cameras in apartment lifts REGULATIONS, RESPONSIBILITIES AND PRECAUTIONS: EVERYTHING THAT MAINTENANCE COMPANIES ENTRUSTED WITH THE INSTALLATION OF VIDEO CAMERAS IN LIFTS NEED TO KNOW IN ORDER TO OPERATE WITH PEACE OF MIND AND AVOID DISPUTES the requesting condominium and only indirectly the company. For this reason, any irregularities and liability for violation of the aforementioned regulations fall primarily on the apartment building. From a civil law point of view, it must be said that the installation of video surveillance systems in apartment buildings has been regulated by Article 1122 ter of the Italian Civil Code (introduced by the condominium reform law no. 220/2012), which provides that ‘resolutions concerning the installation on the common parts of the building of systems aimed at allowing video surveillance on them shall be approved by the assembly with the majority referred to in the second paragraph of Article 1136 of the Italian Civil Code’, i.e., a number of votes representing the majority of those present and at least half of the value of the building. The administrator, therefore, in order to act legitimately must, before giving the order to install cameras in the lift, prove or in any case declare that he is acting by virtue of a specific resolution of the assembly. The company should ensure that the administrator has the relevant powers and may, if necessary, at the time of the assignment, have the administrator issue a declaration that he has been duly authorised by the assembly of owners. If the resolution is the first prerequisite for the lawfulness of the installation, it must be said secondly that the use of video surveillance systems determines a ‘processing of personal data’ within the meaning of the GDPR (European Data Protection Regulation No. 2016/679), a processing that must be carried out in compliance with the general principles contained in the Regulation itself. Therefore, the interested users of the lift service (condominium owners and third-party outsiders) must always be informed that they are about to access a video-monitored area. To this end, it is necessary for the data controller, i.e. the person who determines the purposes and means of the processing and thus the video surveillance, to set up appropriate information signs in this regard. THE lift is in fact a closed place and in most cases has no view of the outside. This characteristic can give rise to safety problems for the people using it (think of possible attacks inside the car) and can also encourage acts of vandalism (writing, breakages, lack of hygiene, etc.) with prejudice to the functionality and use of the vehicle and with the subsequent need for the condominium to carry out the relevant repairs. Hence the increasing need to adopt video surveillance systems and to install video cameras inside the car in order to avoid the aforementioned risks. The existence of a camera can in fact be a deterrent to potential attacks on persons and damage to property. Increasingly, maintenance or installation companies are being asked by condominium owners to install surveillance cameras inside the lift, and it is therefore good to know whether and within what limits to proceed. There are, in fact, private and privacy-protecting regulations to be respected. It must be said, first of all, that the issue primarily concerns 24 L’AVVOCATO RISPONDE DI COSTANZA NUCCI ED EDOARDO TOSCANI*
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