Telephone call recording laws are legislation enacted in many jurisdictions, such as countries, states, provinces, that regulate the practice of telephone call recording. Call recording or monitoring is permitted or restricted with various levels of privacy protection, law enforcement requirements, anti-fraud measures, or individual party consent.
Australia
The federal Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 and State and Territory listening devices laws may both apply to monitoring or recording of telephone conversations. The general rule is that the call may not be recorded. Section 7 of the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 prohibits intercepting a telephone call. "Interception" is defined in section 6, of which one element is that it is made "without the knowledge of the person making the communication". There are exceptions to these rules in very limited circumstances, including where a warrant applies. If a call is to be recorded or monitored, an organization must tell the other party at the beginning of the conversation so that it has the chance either to end the call, or to ask to be transferred to another line where monitoring or recording does not take place. Reasons organizations may monitor or record conversations may include:
to protect a person's intent in dealings with the organization to provide a record in the event of a dispute about a transaction to improve customer service. In the state of Queensland it is not illegal to record a telephone conversation by a party to the conversation.
Canada
Organizations In Canada, organizations subject to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) must comply with PIPEDA when recording calls. In order to comply with the PIPEDA, organizations should take the following steps when recording conversations:
The individual must be informed that the conversation is being recorded at the beginning of the call. This can be done by an automated recording or by the customer service representative. The individual must be advised of the purposes. The organization must be clear about the purposes; an organization should not state that it is recording the conversation for quality assurance purposes if, in fact, the recording will be used for other purposes. Informing the individual of the purposes can be done in a variety of ways—verbally, by pressing a number on the keypad (in the case of automated messages) or with clear messages on monthly statements. (For example: If you have any questions about your bill please call 1-800-XXX-XXXX. Please note your call will be recorded for...) If the individual proceeds knowing the conversation is being recorded and the purpose of the recording, consent is implied. If the caller objects to the recording, the organization should provide the caller with meaningful alternatives. The alternatives might involve not taping the call; visiting a retail outlet; writing a letter; or, conducting the transaction over the Internet.
Individuals An individual may record a call as long as they are one of the participants of the call. The recording can be used as evidence in a lawsuit. However, it is illegal to record communications that the recording party is not participating in. An illegal recording can lead to a sentence of up to five years in prison. Section 183 (Part VI) of the Criminal Code also outlaws surreptitious recording of communications without consent of one of the intended recipients.
Czech Republic Calls and conversations may be recorded by any active participant, with no requirement to make other parties aware of the recording. It is quite restricted how can you use such recording. The main idea is to use it only for protection of your own rights guaranteed by the law. The law dealing with this is NOZ, § 86 and § 88 .
Denmark Calls and conversations may be recorded by any active participant, with no requirement to make other parties aware of the recording. But forwarding or playing calls considered private is illegal. The Denmark Data Protection Authority (DPA) ruled on 11 April 2019, that affirmative consent is required when companies record customer telephone calls.
Finland In the case of private persons, calls and conversations may be recorded by any active participant. There is no requirement to make other parties aware of the recording, but the use of recordings, depending on their content, may be subject to various laws, such as data protection (privacy) legislation, libel laws, laws governing trade and national secrets, and any agreements, such as non-disclosure agreements. Recording of calls by a company or an employer is subject to data protection legislation and, as a general rule, requires informing the participants prior to recording.
Germany Germany is a two-party consent jurisdiction: telephone recording without the consent of the two or, when applicable, more, parties is a criminal offence according to § 201 of the German Criminal Code—violation of the confidentiality of the spoken word. Telephone tapping by authorities has to be approved by a judge. Telephone recording by a private citizen can be allowed in cases of self-defence, § 32 of the German Criminal Code, or Necessity, § 34 of the German Criminal Code. For discussion on lawful interception in Germany please see de:Telekommunikationsüberwachung (German language).
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