Supreme Court orders Dutch Tax service to stop collecting footage from highway cameras

The Dutch Tax Authorities must stop collecting images and data from cameras along highways, the Supreme Court ruled. According to the court, collecting that data and the way it is used violates privacy laws, AD reports.

The Tax Authorities use the data collected for checks under the aggregation scheme and to impose additional taxes.

But the Supreme Court ruled that the Tax Authorities are violating privacy and must stop collecting the data immediately. According to the court "the privacy of those concerned is affected by the way in which the data from the cameras is collected and used. Here it involves not one or a few observations in public spaces, but the systematic collection, capture, processing and years long storage of data on the movements of vehicles at various locations in the Netherlands", the court said. 

According to the court, the Tax authorities have no legal basis for this privacy violation. 

This lawsuit was filed by a man who was in conflict with the tax authorities about the logbook in his company car. People who use company cars in the Netherlands for private purposes for more than 500 kilometers have to pay extra taxes.