On 15 July 2005 the EU Network of Independent Experts on Fundamental Rights presented its annual report on the state of fundamental rights in the EU. The analysis is presented in two lengthy documents. In the Synthesis report, with conclusions and recommendations, the network recommends the creation of a new directive on privacy and employment relations.
From the chapter on the protection of personal data (p. 52-56): "There is a proliferation in the technical mechanisms to help the employer take decisions in the management of persons who are applying for a job or who, once the employment contract has been concluded, are under his control or direction. These include personality and intelligence tests that are used in the recruitment process and that are generated by special software, the recording of recruitment interviews in order to allow evaluation by other persons than the interviewer or to notice more precisely the reactions of the interviewee, the systems for monitoring workers in the workplace – for example through the use of video surveillance or counting or measuring the work by computer -, the use of security badges allowing the identification of staff as well as their location on the company premises at any time. It is important that a Community initiative is taken soon in order to harmonize the way in which the Member States regulate those practices."
Full report (January 2005)
http://europa.eu.int/comm/justice_home/cfr_cdf/doc/report_eu_2004_en.p...
Synthesis report (15.04.2005)
http://europa.eu.int/comm/justice_home/cfr_cdf/doc/synthesis_report_20...