Room surveillance, in French law, refers to the installation of a technical device having for object to capture, fix, transmit and record, without the consent of the concerned persons, their images while they are in a private place. It includes photographs taken by an investigator of a vehicle located in a private property not visible from the public highway or the capture of an image in the common parts of a co-ownership.
The use of this device is codified in articles 706-95-11 and following of the Code of criminal procedure.
This measure may be requested for the needs of the investigation and within the framework of investigations regarding of the following offences :
- offenses related to organized crime under articles 706-73 and 706-73-1 of the code of criminal procedure;
- offences committed on an automated information processing system covered by article 706-72 of the code of criminal procedure;
- economic and financial offences covered by articles 706-1-1, 706-1-2 and 706-2-2.
This special investigative technique can only be used with judicial authorization, either by the liberty and custody judge at the request of the public prosecutor (police investigation), or by the investigating judge after receiving the opinion of the public prosecutor (judicial investigation).
The use of the system cannot have any other purpose than the investigation and the offense referred to in the authorization order of the liberty and custody judge or the investigating judge.
The authorization to use this measure is issued for a maximum period of 1 month, renewable once (police investigation) or for a maximum period of 4 months, renewable (judicial investigation), but the total period cannot exceed 2 years.
To install the device, the investigator is authorized, in accordance with article 706-96-1 of the Code of criminal procedure, to enter a vehicle or a private place, even outside the legal hours provided for in article 59 of the same code (6am-9pm).
The article 706-96 of the Code of criminal procedure distinguishes:
- on the one hand, the capture, fixation, transmission and recording of speech (the device may concern speech uttered in private and public places or vehicles) ;
- on the other hand, the capture, fixation, transmission and recording of the image (the device is limited to people in a private place);