Set by the law · GDPR Art. 4(14)
Biometric data and facial recognition
In plain English
Facial recognition technology processes biometric data, so it involves special categories of personal data. Processing biometric data to uniquely identify someone is banned unless a GDPR Article 9 exception applies.
The official text
‘biometric data’ means personal data resulting from specific technical processing relating to the physical, physiological or behavioural characteristics of a natural person, which allow or confirm the unique identification of that natural person, such as facial images or dactyloscopic data
biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person
FRT is built on the processing of biometric data, therefore, it encompasses the processing of special categories of personal data.
362 decisions on Fino cite Article 9 GDPR. See them →
Related
The official text is quoted word for word from the English version of the source named under it; only the version published in the Official Journal of the EU is legally binding. The plain-English line is Fino’s own summary, not legal advice.