In Estonia, the use of license plate recognition cameras has been suspended due to the lack of a legal framework, the Data Protection Inspectorate informed the Ministry of the Interior on May 13. The Inspectorate outlined that there is insufficient legal basis to use these cameras for the police’s preventative activities.
The Ministry of the Interior stated that the legal acts governing the use of these cameras need to be amended. Specifically, the purpose of maintaining the database collected through these cameras, the type of data to be stored, the retention period, and the person responsible for data storage need to be clearly defined.
This issue gained attention after an April report by Eesti Ekspress, revealing that the Estonian police have been using a network of 200 such cameras for over a decade. These cameras collect more than 20 million images of vehicles each month, which are stored in a database and assist law enforcement in investigations when needed. The existence of the system was never publicly discussed, and it was revealed that the current Prime Minister and the last two Interior Ministers were unaware of it until recently.
Interior Minister Igor Taro confirmed that the use of license plate recognition cameras will be suspended starting May 14 until the necessary changes to the legislation are made. He remarked, “It has now become clear that the use of license plate recognition cameras and the storage of the data they collect requires more precise and thorough regulation,” adding that the development of amendments would begin immediately.
