Maintaining CCTV in liquor-licensed venues

Liquor licensees must operate and maintain CCTV equipment if they:

This is a requirement of the Liquor Regulation 2002.

CCTV equipment register

You must use the CCTV equipment review register to record daily CCTV equipment checks, 6-monthly certifications and any malfunctions.

You must store the register in a secure place at the premises and make it available to an Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation (OLGR) inspector on request.

Daily CCTV equipment checks

in each trading period that your licensed premises is open for business, before 12.30am, you must check that your CCTV equipment is working properly.

Record the following details in the register:

  • date and time of the check
  • name of the person who checked the equipment
  • whether it was working properly.

Six-monthly CCTV equipment checks

At least every 6 months, your CCTV equipment—including any related device—must be checked and certified by someone who holds a current security equipment installer's licence. The certification must be recorded in the register.

The register must state whether the equipment is in good working order and can:

  • record images clearly
  • store each recording for a minimum of 28 days (and 1 year for incidents, unless otherwise directed by OLGR or a police officer)
  • produce a digital copy of each recording.

To check if your certifier is licensed, search the security provider register.

What to do if your CCTV equipment fails

If your CCTV equipment malfunctions, you must have it repaired within 48 hours.

You must comply with your CCTV obligations (under the Liquor Act 1992, Liquor Regulation 2002 and your licence conditions) when your CCTV equipment is under repair. This means you must stop selling or supplying liquor on the premises, and close the premises, if the CCTV equipment is not operational and recording in the required trading period.

You must also record in the CCTV equipment review register the:

  • date and time you identified the malfunction
  • name of the person who identified the malfunction
  • date and time you made the arrangements to repair the equipment
  • name of the person who made the arrangements
  • nature of the repair arrangements
  • date the equipment was repaired.

Storing CCTV recordings

You must store CCTV recordings securely for a minimum of 28 days (and 1 year for incidents, unless otherwise directed by OLGR or a police officer) and make each recording available for inspection by an OLGR investigator or police officer.

You must not destroy a CCTV recording that has been given to an investigator until they let you know in writing that the recording is viewable.

Using facial recognition technology

OLGR is reviewing the use of facial recognition technology in response to recent findings by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

While the review is underway, we encourage anyone using the technology to deactivate it—this includes anyone whose licence conditions require it to be used. We support this as a precautionary step until we can issue further guidance about using it in a way that complies with privacy laws.

During this time, your venue should use other methods—e.g. viewing photos and scanning CCTV—to identify excluded patrons and monitor your patrons' wellbeing, to meet your gambling harm minimisation requirements.

Read Gaming guideline G15 for more information about minimising gambling harm.

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