Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2022

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Operation of CCTV for certain purposes

20. (1) The Act of 1996 is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 14:

“14A. (1) An authorised person may submit a proposal in accordance with subsection (4) for the installation and operation of closed circuit television in the functional area of, or any particular area within the functional area of, a local authority (in this Part referred to as ‘a CCTV scheme’), for the purposes of—

(a) deterring environmental pollution, and

(b) facilitating the deterrence, prevention, detection and prosecution of offences under this Act.

(2) A proposal made under subsection (1) shall include—

(a) details of the location, number and technical specification of the devices to be used in the CCTV scheme,

(b) details of the geographical areas to be covered by the CCTV scheme,

(c) a plan prepared in accordance with subsection (3) for the purposes of this paragraph in respect of the CCTV scheme, and

(d) such other matters referred to in the code of practice approved under section 14C in respect of the operation of this section that relate to the installation and operation of the CCTV scheme.

(3) A plan prepared for the purposes of subsection (2)(c)—

(a) shall contain details of the arrangements proposed in respect of—

(i) the monitoring, recording and disclosure of the images, sounds or documents, produced pursuant to the CCTV scheme, and

(ii) the preservation of recordings made and documents produced pursuant to that scheme,

(b) shall include a data protection impact assessment in respect of the CCTV scheme carried out in accordance with section 84 of the Data Protection Act 2018 , and

(c) shall comply with—

(i) Part 5 of the Data Protection Act 2018 , and

(ii) the code of practice approved under section 14C for the purposes of the operation of this section.

(4) A proposal under subsection (1) shall be submitted to the chief executive of the local authority in whose functional area, or part thereof, the proposed CCTV scheme is to operate and he or she shall decide whether or not to approve the proposal.

(5) Subject to subsections (6) to (8), the chief executive—

(a) may approve, or approve, subject to such modifications, terms and conditions (if any) as he or she considers appropriate, a proposal submitted to him or her under this section, and

(b) where he or she approves a proposal, whether with or without modifications, terms and conditions, he or she shall specify the date on which the approval expires.

(6) In deciding whether or not to approve a proposal under subsection (5), in considering what, if any, modifications, terms and conditions are appropriate and in specifying the date on which an approval is to expire, the chief executive shall consider the extent to which the proposal is proportionate to, and necessary for, the purposes referred to in subsection (1) and he or she shall not approve a proposal unless he or she is satisfied that the proposal is proportionate to, and necessary for, those purposes.

(7) Where the chief executive approves a proposal under subsection (5)—

(a) the approval shall—

(i) be in writing,

(ii) set out such modifications, terms and conditions (if any) as he or she considers appropriate, and

(iii) state the date on which the approval shall expire,

and

(b) the CCTV scheme to which the approval relates shall be operated in accordance with the approval and with the code of practice approved under section 14C for the purposes of the operation of this section.

(8) Subject to subsections (11), (12) and (13), an approval given under subsection (5) shall expire not later than the date that is 5 years from the date on which the approval was given.

(9) The chief executive of a local authority in whose functional area, or part of whose functional area, an approved CCTV scheme is in operation and in respect of which an approval is in being—

(i) may, at any time, and

(ii) shall, not later than 5 years from the date on which the approval in respect of the CCTV scheme was given under subsection (5) and thereafter at intervals of not more than 5 years from the date of the immediately preceding review,

cause a review of the operation of that scheme to be carried out by an authorised person.

(10) An authorised person carrying out a review pursuant to this section shall consider—

(a) whether the approved CCTV scheme is being operated—

(i) in accordance with the approval in respect of the scheme, and

(ii) in compliance with the code of practice approved under section 14C for the purposes of the operation of this section,

(b) the extent to which the operation of the scheme during the period in respect of which the review is being conducted has been, and remains, successful, proportionate and necessary having regard to the purposes referred to in subsection (1), and

(c) such other matters that he or she considers appropriate having regard to the purposes referred to in subsection (1).

(11) Without prejudice to subsection (12), following a review carried out under subsection (10), the chief executive shall decide whether to—

(a) renew the approval given in respect of the scheme, subject to such modifications, terms and conditions, if any, as he or she considers appropriate, or

(b) revoke the approval,

and subsections (6) to (10) shall, with any necessary modifications, apply in respect of the decision of the chief executive under this subsection and, where renewed, the approval as so renewed.

(12) The chief executive may at any time revoke an approval where the CCTV scheme to which the approval relates has been operated otherwise than—

(a) in accordance with the approval, or

(b) in accordance with the code of practice for the time being approved under section 14C for the purposes of the operation of this section.

(13) Where, in relation to an approved CCTV scheme, it is proposed that there are to be changes to the scheme, other than repairs or modifications that do not alter the extent of the coverage of the scheme or the capability of the devices used in the scheme, an authorised person shall make a proposal under subsection (1) in respect of those changes and this section shall apply, with any necessary modifications, in respect of that proposal and where an approval is given in respect of that new proposal, the existing approval shall be revoked.

(14) Where an approval expires and is not renewed or is revoked by a chief executive under this section, the local authority shall, not later than one month after the date on which the approval expired or is revoked, as the case may be, terminate the operation of the CCTV scheme concerned.

(15) Notice of the approval, review or revocation of a proposal under this section shall be published on the website of the local authority concerned.

(16) In this section, ‘chief executive’ has the same meaning as it has in section 2 of the Local Government Act 2001 .”.

(2) The Minister shall not make an order under section 1(2) for the purposes of bringing s ubsection (1) into operation until such time as a code of practice for the purposes of the operation of section 14A (inserted by subsection (1) ) of the Act of 1996 has been approved by the Minister under section 14C (inserted by section 22 ) of that Act and laid before each House of the Oireachtas in accordance with section 14C.