Do You Need Permission To Install CCTV?

Do You Need Permission To Install CCTV? CCTV installation has become a trend in recent years. Video surveillance helps homeowners and business owners to guarantee safety on their premises.

For individuals, a CCTV has a role in ensuring that the home-alone children are in safety while the parents are working. For business owners, a surveillance camera monitors the equipment and the personnel.

People also use a CCTV system to record potential offenses, such as vandalism, theft, violence, and harassment. But do you need permission to install CCTV on the premises of your Singapore property?

Here is an overview of the Singapore CCTV law explaining how to install a surveillance camera in a legal way.

Installing CCTV on private premises

If you want to install a camera inside your own house, you are totally free to do it. However, things are getting tricky when you want to install it in an HDB flat or condominium unit. CCTV installation in the common areas of the flat may interfere with the private life of your neighbors.

They may consider it intrusive so you have to ask their consent to mount the surveillance system. You also have to consult the HDB and MCST rules to ensure you are not liable for punishment.

If you are going to install a camera outside the flat, you also have to comply with certain regulations. If it’s an HDB, you need to get authorization from the Town Council. For a condominium unit, you need approval from your estate governing body.

You may need to bring evidence of the acts of vandalism or theft that happen outside your flat. For this, your best bet is to file a complaint to the police about the offenses happening on your premises. You need to attach a copy of the complaint to your approval request.

The authorisation for installation will depend on the will of your neighbors, too. If they are ok with the surveillance of the common areas, there are higher chance you will get official permission. Keep in mind that you install a camera only for 6 months.

After half a year of use, you need to apply for a new authorization with your governing body. Things are getting much easier when it comes to landed property. Since you share it with nobody, you can install the camera anywhere you want both inside and outside.

Can you install the camera yourself?

Even if you get the permission to mount a CCTV camera, it is illegal to install it on your own. The person installing the system must hold a Security Service Provider licence. Even if you are savvy in technology and know how to deal with the job, you have to abstain.

CCTV installation on business premises

Things are getting complicated when it comes to installing CCTV on business premises. Businesses have to comply with the Personal Data Protection Act. If the organization is accessible to the public, camera installation is easier.

PDPA doesn’t impose many restrictions if the business allows free access to visitors. It can refer to stores, restaurants, bars, hotels, gyms and others. If the organisation is not publicly accessible, such as an office or factory, you have to notify visitors about surveillance.

You have to attach notices on the entry door or on the entry gate outside. If you don’t do so, the customers may keep you liable for exploiting their personal data without their consent.

Other PDPA regulations

Any individual has the right to require the footage recording them from an organisation. The business has the obligation to respond to any request and provide people with the video. However, some footages reveal personal data of other people.

It usually refers to crowded places, such as shopping malls. In this case, the company has to blur the faces of other individuals on the footage.

Do You Need Permission To Install CCTV? – Conclusion

To conclude, you are free to install CCTV inside your house. However, you need an authorisation and neighbors’ consent when you intend to monitor the common areas of the HDB or MCST flat. For businesses, they have to comply with the Personal Data Protection Act.

They must allow access of people to footages recording them. Also they have to notify the visitors about the video surveillance if the organisation is non-publicly accessible.