The Polish data protection authority (UODO) has asked the Minister of Health to clarify the legislation regarding the use of surveillance in sobering-up centers to ensure its compliance with the GDPR.

The Polish law on sobriety education and combating alcoholism does not specify whether surveillance in isolation rooms may record only images or also sound. The president of the UODO considers audio recording to be an excessive measure and that the current regulation does not constitute a sufficient legal basis for such practice. Sobering-up centers, as data controllers, have themselves expressed their doubts to the supervisory authority. Any surveillance by public entities must be based on a clear and precise legal basis, defining the limits of interference with private life, in accordance with articles 47 and 51 of the Polish Constitution. It is noted that these recordings are also reviewed by the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture of the Ombudsman's Office (RPO) to prevent abuses.