MD004Endpoint activity monitoring

The deployment of an agent that records what is done on a workstation or laptop.

Pillar: MD | Monitoring and detection
Sources cited: 12
Added: 30 AUGUST 2026
Updated: 20 SEPTEMBER 2026

Control	Jurisdiction	Source	What it establishes	Prerequisite or recommendation
MD004/EUMandatory	European Union	Regulation (EU) 2016/679, articles 5(2), 6, 9, 12, 15, 22, 35, and 88European Parliament and Council · read 11 Aug 2026Opinion 2/2017 on data processing at work (WP249)Article 29 Data Protection Working Party · read 11 Aug 2026	The grounds on which processing may rest, the burden of showing it, the categories whose processing is prohibited outright save on a named ground, what a person asking has to be told and by when, the limit on deciding about someone by machine alone, when an impact assessment is owed, and the leave each member state has to set its own employment rule.	A ground under article 6 has to be identified before anything is collected through the endpoint agent, and whatever more specific rule the member state has made under article 88 applies on top of it. Consent is rarely that ground in an employment relationship, since it has to be freely given and the imbalance there makes that doubtful.
MD004/CoEMandatory	Council of Europe	Bărbulescu v. RomaniaEuropean Court of Human Rights, Grand Chamber · read 11 Aug 2026	That private life and correspondence reach into the workplace, and the six criteria against which any monitoring measure is weighed.	Private life and correspondence extend into the workplace, including where a worker’s private use of a work device breaks the employer’s rules, and a monitoring measure is to be assessed against six criteria, prior notification and the availability of a less intrusive method among them. The case concerned the reading of a worker’s messages, and whether the criteria reach an agent recording what is done on a device is not decided in it.
MD004/ATMandatory	Austria	Arbeitsverfassungsgesetz, sections 96 and 96aNationalrat · read 29 Aug 2026	That a control measure touching human dignity has no legal effect without the works council’s consent, and that consent for automated processing and for assessment systems can be replaced by a conciliation board while consent under section 96 cannot.	The works council’s consent is the condition of the endpoint agent having legal effect, and the threshold is whether it touches human dignity.
MD004/FRMandatory	France	Code du travail, articles L1121-1, L1222-4, and L2312-38République française · read 16 Aug 2026	Consultation of the social and economic committee before the decision, prior knowledge for the worker, and proportionality to the task.	The social and economic committee has to be informed and consulted before the decision to put the endpoint agent in place, and the worker informed before it reaches them.
MD004/DEMandatory	Germany	Betriebsverfassungsgesetz, section 87(1)(6)Bundestag · read 16 Aug 2026	Co-determination by the works council over the introduction and the use of technical devices intended to monitor conduct or performance.	The works council has to agree before introducing the endpoint agent, and again on the manner in which it is used.
MD004/ITMandatory	Italy	Legge 20 maggio 1970, n. 300, article 4Parliament of Italy · read 11 Aug 2026	That an instrument from which remote monitoring may follow is permitted only for stated purposes, and only after a union agreement or an authorization.	An agreement with the union representatives, or failing that an authorization from the labor inspectorate, is required before installing the endpoint agent.
MD004/NLMandatory	Netherlands	Wet op de ondernemingsraden, article 27(1)(l)Staten-Generaal · read 16 Aug 2026	Consent of the works council for an arrangement directed at or merely suitable for observing presence, conduct, or performance.	The works council has to consent before any arrangement governing the endpoint agent is adopted, amended, or withdrawn.
MD004/PLMandatory	Poland	Kodeks pracy, article 22(3)Sejm of the Republic of Poland · read 20 Sep 2026	That monitoring of a worker’s official electronic mail is open only where it is indispensable to an organisation of work permitting full use of working time and to the proper use of the work tools provided, that it may not violate the secrecy of correspondence, and that the same provisions, and with them the procedure of article 22(2), reach every other form of monitoring used for those purposes.	An agent recording what is done on a workstation is a form of monitoring other than electronic mail, and article 22(3)(4) carries to it the provisions governing that monitoring, and with them the procedural regime of article 22(2). Its purposes, scope and manner are therefore set in the collective agreement or the work regulations, notified two weeks before it starts, and handed to each worker before they are admitted to work.
MD004/ESMandatory	Spain	Ley Orgánica 3/2018, articles 87, 89, and 90Cortes Generales · read 16 Aug 2026	A right to privacy in employer-provided devices, and the express prior information owed before camera images or location data are processed.	Criteria for use, drawn up with the participation of the workers’ representatives, and express prior information to the workers, are required before putting the endpoint agent into operation.
Recommended	Belgiumwhere written	CyberFundamentals 2025, EssentialCentre for Cybersecurity Belgium · read 29 Aug 2026	What the Belgian centre sets out for the heaviest of its assurance levels, and the only place in this record where a national authority names the insider as something the detection tools are there to catch.	Endpoint and network protection tools that monitor the behavior of end users for dangerous activity are to be implemented and to be managed. What they are for is stated without euphemism: detecting risky or suspicious behavior by users on devices and networks, including the misuse of systems and attempts to get around the controls, whether these come from an attacker outside or from an insider.
Recommended	United Kingdomwhere written	Employment practices and data protection: monitoring workersInformation Commissioner's Office · read 30 Aug 2026	What the British regulator expects of an employer that watches its workers, told apart as what an employer must do and what it should, and the conditions it sets on watching them without telling them.	Keystroke monitoring is named as an example of processing likely to cause high risk, so an assessment is owed before the agent is put on the device rather than after.