The audit conducted by the PPA analyzed the use of the Automatic Number Plate Recognition system (ANPR), which has caused a lot of controversy in Estonia over recent weeks. The legal basis upon which they are operated and the compliance of data processing and surveillance measures with legal regulations were examined.

The audit also assessed the justification for the 4,576 queries made by the PPA in the system's database over the course of a single month – March this year.

There were a number of positive conclusions from the audit. There are, for instance, logs of how the data is used, which provide a clear picture of how the license plate number recognition system is applied. The audit also found that queries on the data collected by the system were justified and are used in particular for the detection of serious offences.

However, the audit also identified certain shortcomings, including the need for the PPA to improve the way it follows up on queries and vehicle tracking. It also found shortcomings in relation the risk assessments carried out before cameras are installed. In other words, the process through which a camera's installation in a particular location is justified.

The PPA has also not  uniformly marked cameras in public space, with nearly a third lacking the correct labels to identify them as video surveillance cameras.

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