Court decision · 17 October 2019
López Ribalda and Others v. Spain
Applications nos. 1874/13 and 8567/13, Grand Chamber judgment of 17 October 2019 · European Court of Human Rights (Grand Chamber)
What it means for your code
Surveillance features must support purpose limitation, time-boxing and scope controls to be defensible.
What happened
A supermarket installed hidden cameras to investigate theft and dismissed employees based on the footage.
What was decided
Covert video surveillance did not violate Article 8 in the circumstances given reasonable suspicion of serious misconduct and its limited scope and duration; proportionality depends on such safeguards.
The legal test applied
- Covert surveillance can be justified by reasonable suspicion of serious misconduct if limited in scope and duration
Summary and analysis by Lawpatch, checked by an editor against the source. Risk analysis, not legal advice; the law may have moved on since this decision.