An SIA licence is required if you undertake the licensable activities of a public space surveillance CCTV operative and your services are supplied for the purposes of or in connection with any contract to a consumer.

For more information, please visit the SIA website at: http://www.the-sia.org.uk/home/licensing/cctv/cctv.htm

IMS Research recently published a report on ‘The World Market for CCTV & Video Surveillance Equipment, 2008 Edition’.

IMS Research forecasts a strong long term growth for network video products with an average yearly growth of 35 percent the coming five years.

Please visit www.imsresearch.com for more information.

If you have a very basic CCTV system, its use may not be covered by the Data Protection Act. For example, if you're a small shop keeper with a couple of cameras you can't move remotely and you simply record whatever the system picks up and only give the recorded images to the police as a result of an incident in your shop, then you're not covered by the Act.

However, if your system is more advanced and allows you to zoom in on an individual member of staff whose behaviour is causing you concern, or you use cameras to monitor the movements and activities of your workforce, you'll need to inform the Information Commissioner’s office. You'll also need to let them know if you give the recorded images to anyone other than the police or a similar law enforcement agency.

The highly sophisticated CCTV systems used in large shops, railway stations, town centres and other places where large numbers of people gather are designed to focus on particular people or identify criminal activity. These types of images are covered by the Act, but if a general scene is recorded without an incident occurring, the pictures are not covered.

In summary, if the image recorded is aimed at learning about a particular person's activities, then it's covered by the act. The code of practice below includes a simple checklist for users of very limited CCTV systems where the full provisions of the code would be too detailed:
- CCTV Code of Practice (Revised 2008 edition)

In order to provide guidance and simplification in the complex area of CCTV, the BSIA is very active in the European standards arena and also develops its own guides and codes of practice where currently standards do not exist.

The BSIA has the following guidelines available for download:

- A basic guide to BS8418 Systems for installers (pdf)
- A guide for installation of cctv systems using IP technology
- A user guide to the use of Internet Protocol (IP) in the security industry
- An installer's guide to Internet Protocol (IP) in the security industry (pdf)
- BS8418 systems user guide (pdf)

HOSDB offers comprehensive operational requirements guidance for organisations who wish to install or upgrade CCTV systems. This guidance concentrates on how to best determine your requirements and ensure that the system meets these as closely as possible. HOSDB also publish the ‘UK Police Requirements For Digital CCTV Systems’, which helps operators understand the needs of the police.

Both can be obtained here:
- CCTV & Imaging Technology