Data Protection Authorities for France and the Netherlands have weighed in on the use of temperature taking in the fight against the spread of COVID-19.

Netherlands’ Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens:

“We hear that all kinds of organizations use different means to check people quickly for fever. Not only with a thermometer, but also with thermal cameras”

“That’s not allowed. This is a serious offense under [GDPR] . If this happens, we will enforce.”

“We don’t want to wake up in a few months in a society with a kind of Chinese situation, in which the employer is constantly watching you and can even see your care data and have all kinds of consequences.”

• Employers may not check people’s temperature and process their health data.
• Consent as a legal basis is not possible in an employment relationship, because an employee may feel pressured to give permission.
• Only a doctor should do health tests and process the medical data of personnel.
• You may not check temperature of visitors or vendors either. Consent here is not possible because there is no equivalence here either. The visitor will feel compelled to agree.
• Employees of companies that measure temperature should report this to the works council and to the data protection officer.

Spain’s Agencia Española Proteccíon Datos:

Continue Reading Temperature-Taking Under GDPR: Guidance from Spain, the Netherlands