Recording meetings in Denmark.
Danish practice draws the same participant line as its Nordic neighbours, and the practical difficulty is finding current material in a language you read.
The General Data Protection Regulation applies here of its own force rather than through a national translation of it, and the national act below handles the parts member states are left to decide for themselves. The supervisory authority enforces both. In Denmark that is Databeskyttelsesloven. Alongside it, Section 263 of the Straffeloven addresses breach of the privacy of communications, including using a listening device to secretly record statements made in private by someone not taking part in the conversation.
The criminal provision is aimed at the non-participant and at secrecy, which are both a long way from an announced recording of a meeting you are in. The data protection obligations do the practical work: a stated purpose, a lawful basis, transparency at the time, and retention bounded by that purpose. A note on sources, which matters more in Denmark than in larger markets: Datatilsynet publishes most of its guidance in Danish, and English-language summaries of Danish practice go stale quickly.
- The data protection instrument
- Databeskyttelsesloven (Data Protection Act), Act no. 502 of 23 May 2018
- Who supervises this
- Datatilsynet (Danish Data Protection Agency)
Criminal provisions
These sit alongside data protection law rather than replacing it. They generally address conduct that is covert or that involves conversations the recorder was not part of, which is a narrower category than everyday meeting recording, and a considerably more serious one.
Straffeloven, Section 263
Criminal Code
Breach of privacy of communications. The provision addresses, among other conduct, using a listening device to secretly record statements made in private, by a person not taking part in the conversation.
What is specific to this country
- The GDPR applies directly in Denmark rather than through a national equivalent. A meeting recording that identifies the people in it is personal data, so making, storing and sharing it is processing, and it needs a lawful basis under Article 6.
- Transparency is a separate obligation from lawful basis. Article 13 requires that people are told what is being collected and why at the time it is collected, which for a meeting means at the start rather than afterwards.
- Danish practice distinguishes clearly between recording a conversation you take part in and recording one you do not, and the criminal provision is aimed at the second.
- Datatilsynet publishes most guidance in Danish. English summaries of Danish practice are frequently out of date, so check the original before relying on a secondary source.
What to do in practice
The practice below is not the legal minimum in every jurisdiction. It is the practice that is defensible in all of them, which is a more useful target when your calls cross borders.
- Say it out loud at the start, before anything substantive is discussed, and say what the recording is for. Not a line in the invite nobody read.
- Give people a real way to decline. An announcement that leaves no room to object is closer to a notification than to consent.
- Write it down. A line in the notes recording that the meeting was recorded, and that nobody objected, is worth more later than anyone's memory of the moment.
- Keep external meetings to a higher standard than internal ones. Colleagues share an employment context; a customer, a candidate, or a supplier does not.
- Decide how long you keep recordings, and actually delete them. Indefinite retention converts a small, well-handled recording into a growing liability.
- Treat sharing as a fresh decision. The question is not whether you were allowed to record, it is whether this particular person was meant to hear it.
Questions
Does Section 263 apply to recording a meeting I attend?
It is framed around secretly recording statements by someone not taking part in the conversation, so it is a poor fit for an announced recording by a participant. The data protection layer governs that case.
Where do I check current Danish practice?
Datatilsynet's own material, in Danish. English secondary sources on Danish data protection practice are frequently out of date, and this is an area where the details change.
Is Denmark stricter than the rest of the EU?
The Regulation is the same law across member states. Denmark's implementing act handles the choices left to member states; the substantive obligations for a meeting recording come from the Regulation itself.
Sources
Primary sources, so you can check this rather than take our word for it.
Recording that announces itself.
Canto's notetaker joins as a named participant the organiser admits, and the recording, the transcript and who can see it stay under your control. 300 minutes a month, free forever.