Photo consent
When publishing or sharing photos or video where people are the subject, you must comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Norwegian Copyright Act § 104 . The person using/sharing the photos or video must be able to document that consent has been provided. Consent must be voluntary, unambiguous and informed.
The rule of thumb is that consent should be obtained from everyone who is subject to photography, video recording and audio recording. It must be possible to document consent.
Photos that require consent
These are photos where the individuals are the main subject. If you are publishing such photos online or sharing them with others, you must have the consent of those pictured before publishing the photo. This also applies to illustrations where “models” illustrate an actual situation (study situations, teaching environment, etc.).
The consent form must be completed by the person being photographed or filmed. The form is automatically sent to the UNIS archive system.
Procedure
The photographer must provide a link for those persons who are to provide their consent.
The consent form should be completed by the person being photographed or filmed.
Each individual has the right to request to withdraw consent later by contacting UNIS archive system (post@unis.no).
Photos that do not require consent
There are some exceptions to written consent. Such photos may be taken and published without the consent of the pictured individuals as long as the photos are not offensive to those who are pictured. These are photos such as:
- Those that have topical and general interest
- Those where the situation or activity is the real subject of the photo.
- Those where exactly who appears in the photo is less important than the main content of the photo.
Examples of such photos may be a group of people at a concert, an event or an occurrence of general interest. Persons who are a part of the event (entertainers, speakers, etc.), may be photographed without their written consent.
The boundary between what constitutes a situational photo and what constitutes a portrait is often a matter of definition. You should therefore always obtain consent if you are in doubt.
Request for protection
For various reasons, some individuals need or want to be protected from being photographed during events that are considered to be exceptions.
With regard to photos and videos from events that are exempt from the rules of written consent, UNIS takes the approach of informing as far as possible that photos or video will be taken at the event. This information will be provided verbally or by a written notice. It is asked that one clearly informs the photographer that one does not want to be photographed.
Withdrawal of consent
A person who has previously filled out the consent form can at a later stage withdraw the consent. Withdrawal notice must be sent to the UNIS archive system at post@unis.no. After the notice has been received by UNIS, the all concerned images will be removed from the photo archives, the web site and the social media platforms as far as possible.
Please be aware that there are some images that UNIS might not be able to remove, such as photos used in printed publications.
Contact
For questions related to this, contact the Information section at info@unis.no.