Hello alphavii
I am not posting this as an answer, since it is not specifically about
Belgian law. However, it does describe relevant EU Directives, so may
be applicable to you.
From Citizens Information Database by Comhairle (Ireland)
http://www.cidb.ie/live.nsf/aefbf43c9076db8180256ab000572790/9abb5a7d4be1a00880256c61004031cd?OpenDocument&ExpandSection=17
EU directive may outlaw monitoring employees' e-mails
Sunday Business Post, 27/10/2002
Banks, stockbrokers and call centres may be breaking the law by
monitoring employees' phone calls and e-mails, according to a leading
Dublin solicitor... EU regulations outlaw surveillance of workers'
communications. The solicitor said the government would now have to
introduce amending legislation to make exceptions to the directives.
Surveillance of employees in the workplace is controlled by... the
1995 data protection directive and the 1997 telephone privacy
directive. The 1997 directive will be superseded in 12 months by a
2002 directive on privacy and electronic communications. All EU
directives have direct effect, even if they are not implemented into
national law. ... The data directive relates to public
telecommunication services, including ISDN lines and public digital
mobile networks. Internal phone systems and internal e-mails are
outside the scope of the directive and regulations. Article 5, which
deals with confidentiality of communications, says member states must
"ensure via national regulations the confidentiality of
communications. . . In particular, they shall prohibit listening,
tapping, storage or other kinds of interception or surveillance of
communications, by other than users, without the consent of the users
concerned." Article 14 of the directive gives member states the
option to restrict the scope of Article 5 when necessary to safeguard
national security or for the prevention or investigation of crime....
"It appears that Statutory Instrument 192 of 2002, by purporting to
give effect to the full directive, may have outlawed any surveillance
by an employer of voicemail, e-mail, telephone calls or internet use
received by an employee from a publicly-available communication
network or mobile network," ... In Britain, where regulations were
introduced, employers ... may intercept employees' phone calls...
without the consent of the sender and recipient in certain
circumstances, including ensuring compliance with regulatory practices
and procedures. "A temporary solution might be to persuade employees
to consent to the monitoring of their communications," said O'Mara.
"However, because Article 5 appears mandatory, this may not be
enforceable. Only regulations permitted by way of derogation to
Article 5 could safely grant some kind of consent procedure." ...
Other solicitors take a different view... But O'Mara, who specialises
in employment law, says nobody can be sure of the legal situation. "I
am not saying that my interpretation of the law is the only one," he
said, "but I don't know how any solicitor can safely advise an
employer that he can monitor employee communications at the moment. |
