PRINCIPLE DECISION ON THE PROCESSING OF BIOMETRIC DATA FOR WORKPLACE ATTENDANCE TRACKING PURPOSES

The Principle Decision of the Personal Data Protection Board dated 29 April 2026 regarding the “Processing of Biometric Data for Workplace Attendance Tracking Purposes” was published in the Official Gazette on 2 June 2026.

According to this Principle Decision:

• Although the legislation contains provisions regarding the monitoring of working hours, there is no explicit legal provision regulating how such monitoring should be carried out or requiring that it be conducted through the processing of biometric data. Therefore, under the current legal framework, the processing of biometric data for such purposes cannot be deemed to rely on the legal basis of being “explicitly provided for by law”.
• Accordingly, since none of the processing conditions set out under Article 6 of the Law apply to the processing of biometric data for workplace attendance tracking purposes, such processing activities have generally been based on explicit consent in practice. However, due to the imbalance of power inherent in the employer-employee relationship, there are doubts as to whether such consent is genuinely freely given, and therefore explicit consent alone does not constitute a sufficient legal basis.
• The principle of proportionality constitutes an important criterion in assessing personal data processing activities. In the presence of alternative and less intrusive methods, the processing of biometric data for workplace attendance tracking purposes, even where explicit consent is obtained from the data subjects, does not satisfy the proportionality requirement set out under the general principles of Article 4 of the Law.

In this respect, the Board concluded that the processing of biometric data for workplace attendance tracking purposes cannot be carried out without relying on one of the processing conditions provided under Article 6 of the Law, and that even where valid explicit consent exists, such processing may still fail to comply with the proportionality principle under Article 4 of the Law.

The Decision further states that workplace attendance tracking should instead be ensured through alternative methods such as:

1. password-protected card systems,
2. PIN-based systems,
3. traditional signature or paper-based attendance sheets,
4. RFID/NFC identification cards, or
5. manual entry under supervisor control.

Our Law Firm remains at your disposal for any further clarifications you may need.

Copyright © 2026 Cailliau&Colakel Attorney Partnership, All rights reserved.