29 Jun COVID-19 EMERGENCY AND PRIVACY REQUIREMENTS

The emergency triggered by COVID-19, in area of corporate security, has also impacted on people’s Privacy.

In the first instance, in his Statement issued on 2 March 2020, the Data Protection Supervisor expressed a negative opinion regarding measuring the body temperature of employees, recommending that the Data Controller does not carry out independent initiatives that provide for the collection of data, including the health data of users and workers who are not legally provided for or decided by the competent bodies.

With the “Shared Protocol regulating the measures to counter and contain the spread of the Covid-19 virus in the workplace”, the situation has changed.

In fact, the Protocol, agreed by the Government, Trade Unions and Trade Associations, stipulates that personnel, before entering the workplace, may be subject to body temperature measurement without the data being recorded. The only exception is where the measured temperature is above 37.5°, in which case it is possible to identify the person concerned, record their temperature and deny access to the premises.

The state of emergency in which we find ourselves today has made it necessary to adopt extraordinary measures that also provide for the temporary suspension of rights relating to the protection of personal data, in accordance with the principles of necessity and proportionality already provided for by Regulation (EU) 2016/679.

This condition must be limited to the current period of emergency which, once it has ended, will require full restoration of the regulatory guarantees and rules.

For further information on this topic, please do not hesitate to contact us.