As you can imagine, recording a phone call is not always completely legal. But in what situation exactly? We contacted the Data Protection Authority to find out more…
In what setting can you record a phone call. What about if the person consents? To try to answer this question, we contacted the Data Protection Authority, an official Belgian body which succeeded the Consultative Commission for the Protection of Privacy in 2018, and which is therefore responsible, as you might expect, for to protect the confidentiality of your data.
To begin with, you must realize that the basic principle, and on which you must therefore refer as a general rule, is quite simple: if you have any doubt, do not record! Unless of course you have permission from absolutely all participants in the call “Recording electronic, professional or private conversations is in principle prohibited. Indeed, under article 124 of the Electronic Communications Act (LCE), it is prohibited for any person to intentionally become aware of the existence of information of any kind transmitted by electronic communication and which does not is not intended for him personally, unless authorized to do so by all the people directly or indirectly concerned,” explains Aurélie Waeterinckx, spokesperson for the Data Protection Authority.
It should be noted that the regulations, as far as Belgium is concerned, are quite complex, because they are not governed by a single document. “The question of recording a telephone communication requires recourse to several different regulations: in addition to the regulation relating to personal data (GDPR) which is applicable for the processing of personal data, there also exist in certain cases specific provisions provided for in the law (penal code, Law relating to the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data, Law relating to electronic communications in particular). »
Well, that’s all very good, and we understand that the most important thing is to ask for the consent of all parties involved. But are there situations in which such a request is not necessary? Yes, but it is very unlikely that these will affect you, unless you are an employer. There are indeed very rare cases which are seen as exemptions, except that even in these cases, there is a certain level of consent necessary: ”Employers wishing to control the quality of the service within the framework of a “call-center” activity and “Companies which record communications relating to legal commercial transactions, to retain proof of these commercial transactions (for example: Phone Banking) provided that people are correctly informed . » as explained by our interlocutor.
Another exception: “authorization by a specific law”, which is, paradoxically, not really specific… We suppose that this mainly covers recordings in judicial settings and which would have previously been authorized by the authorities. So once again, it doesn’t concern you.
But be careful, because there is one more small clarification to note: if you recorded a call after having obtained the consent of all parties involved, this naturally does not authorize you to do anything and everything with it. . You will not be able to publish the recording, or even share it with others, without their explicit consent on these specific aspects. So remember to ask your interlocutors if they agree to each of these specific uses before sharing anything…
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