The Council of Europe issues recommendations on the protection of personal data in the workplace

This non-binding recommendation bears witness to the willingness of the Council’s 47 Member States to progress together towards a common goal. It outlines the main principles that the governments should pass through their own national legislation as relates to the treatment of personal data for both employees and job applicants. The recommendations issue precise guidelines on the monitoring of emails, the use of information systems, biometric data, and health data, etc. and prohibit using these technologies to directly monitor employees and also include safeguards for when such systems are being implemented for other totally legitimate objectives and that as a consequence involve processing employees’ personal data.