Complying with CCTV legislation for licensed venues

Venues located within the Brisbane City Council area that are authorised to trade past 1am must operate CCTV. Other licensed venues in Queensland must operate CCTV if it is a specific condition of their licence. These venues are required to comply with the obligations placed on Brisbane City Council licensees.

CCTV legal requirements checklist

Use the checklist below to understand and comply with your obligations under the Liquor Act 1992 and the Liquor Regulation 2002.

Operation and placement of CCTV:

  • CCTV is installed and operating at each entry and exit point.
  • Patrons are recorded entering and exiting the venue, and in all their interactions with staff and crowd controllers at these points.
  • CCTV is operating from 8pm to 1 hour after the close of business.
  • Liquor and business service ceases if CCTV is inoperative after 1am.

Technical requirements for CCTV equipment:

  • Recordings are embedded with the recording time and date.
  • CCTV equipment is able to produce a digital copy of recordings.
  • Daily CCTV equipment checks are performed.
  • Malfunctions are recorded.
  • Equipment is checked and certified by an appropriately qualified person every 6 months.

Privacy and CCTV recordings:

  • Only the licensee and approved manager are permitted to operate and access CCTV recordings.
  • Only the licensee, approved manager, Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulations (OLGR) compliance officers and police officers are permitted to view the CCTV recordings.
  • Patron safety signage is used to inform patrons that CCTV is operating.

Storage and retention of CCTV recordings:

  • CCTV recordings and CCTV equipment review registers are stored securely.
  • Recordings containing incidents required to be kept cannot be deleted earlier than 1 year after the 28 day retention period.
  • A recording that has previously been provided to an investigator cannot be destroyed until an investigator has confirmed by written notice that the recording is viewable.
  • Recordings that do not show an incident required to be recorded are to be kept for a minimum of 28 days, and deleted within 30 days after the retention period by a the licensee or approved manager.

  • [Animation]

    Two guys, Tiny and Bluey, both in red t-shirts are in line to get into a venue.

    [Voice over]

    This is Tiny and Bluey. They're pretty tough guys. Stupid, but pretty tough. Tiny reckons Bluey's jumped the queue.

    [Tiny]

    End of the line buddy!

    [Voice over]

    Typically, Tiny and Bluey will deal with this by punching on.

    [Animation]

    Tiny and Bluey throw punches in a fist-flying frenzy.

    [Voice over]

    You know a good old fashion scrap to impress the ladies!

    [Animation]

    The security guard stops them and the manager, a compliance officer and a police officer appear. The police officer hands them a ban notice, and the security guard and compliance officer make notes in their incident registers.

    [Voice over]

    Unlucky for Tiny and Bluey they won't be partying for a while because they've been banned from the safe night precinct.

    [Compliance officer] Hey, what's going on here? I'll need to have a chat to your security staff and review your incident register and CCTV footage.

    [Animation]

    The licensee produces a USB with CCTV written on it.

    [Voice over]

    Lucky for this licensee he's followed the right procedure.

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