Recording job interviews in the Czech Republic: Civil Code consent, the Labour Code's limits and ÚOOÚ guidance

In the Czech Republic, recording a job interview needs the candidate's consent in practice, and the rule comes from civil law rather than the criminal code. The Civil Code protects a person's privacy and "expressions of a personal nature," treats making or using a sound recording of someone as needing their consent unless an exception applies, and lets them withdraw that consent. The GDPR and the Labour Code add that an employer may ask a candidate only for data "directly related" to concluding the employment contract, and the Employment Act lets the candidate demand proof that any data requested is necessary. This is the position as of November 2026.

This page adds the Czech Republic to our country series alongside Poland, Austria and Germany. It is for recruiters, agency consultants and hiring managers who interview candidates located in the Czech Republic by video or phone, including from the US. Statutes are quoted from e-Sbírka, the state's official collection of laws, and guidance from the Office for Personal Data Protection (ÚOOÚ); quotations are our translations from Czech.

The Czech rules at a glance

Is it a crime to record a job interview in the Czech Republic?

Not for a participant, on the statute's wording. Section 182 of the Criminal Code (Act 40/2009 Coll.), headed "breach of the secrecy of transmitted messages," punishes anyone who intentionally breaches the secrecy of a "data, text, voice, sound or video message sent through an electronic communications network and attributable to an identified subscriber or user who receives the message," with up to two years in prison or a ban on activity. Subsection 2 adds the same penalty for disclosing or using, with intent to cause harm or gain an advantage, a secret learned from a telephone call "that was not intended for them." Both are aimed at people outside the conversation. We found no Czech offence aimed at a participant who records their own call.

That does not settle the question for an employer, because the real limits are in civil and data protection law, and the ÚOOÚ itself points out that privacy and personal data protection, though closely related, "are governed by different legal rules" (ÚOOÚ, image and sound recordings Q&A). A candidate who objects can sue in a civil court under the Civil Code and complain to the ÚOOÚ under the GDPR.

What does the Civil Code require?

The Civil Code (Act 89/2012 Coll.) protects personality in section 81, listing among the protected values a person's "privacy and expressions of a personal nature." Four provisions shape how a recording can be made and used:

• Section 86: "No one may interfere with the privacy of another without a legal reason." In particular, without a person's permission no one may monitor their private life "or make a sound or video recording of it," use such recordings, or distribute them.
• Section 87: a person who consented to the use of "a sound or video recording concerning a person or their expressions of a personal nature" may withdraw that consent, "even if they gave it for a fixed period." If consent given for a fixed period is withdrawn without a material change of circumstances or another reasonable ground, the person withdrawing must compensate the resulting damage.
• Section 88: consent is not needed where a recording is made or used "to exercise or protect other rights or legally protected interests of other persons," or under a law for an official purpose.
• Section 90: a legal ground for such an interference "must not be used in a disproportionate way contrary to the legitimate interests of the person."

The section 88 exception is written for situations such as protecting a right in a dispute, and section 90 limits it; it is not a sensible basis for recording interviews as a routine. The workable rule in Czech practice is the same as in Germany and Austria: tell the candidate, ask, and record only after a clear yes. Because section 87 lets the candidate withdraw consent to the recording's use, decide in advance how you will stop using and delete a recording when asked.

What may you ask a candidate, and what does that mean for a recording?

Section 30(2) of the Labour Code lets an employer require from a job applicant, in dealings before employment begins, "only data directly related to concluding the employment contract." The ÚOOÚ's questions and answers for employers explain that the relevant data are information "relating to the qualifications, work experience, skills and knowledge" of the applicant.

Section 12(2) of the Employment Act (Act 435/2004 Coll., in force as amended to July 1, 2026) goes further. When selecting employees, an employer may not require information about nationality, racial or ethnic origin, political views, trade union membership, religion, philosophical beliefs or sexual orientation unless a special law allows it, information "contrary to good morals," or personal data that do not serve to fulfil the employer's legal obligations. And: "At the request of a job applicant, the employer is obliged to prove the necessity of the personal data requested."

A recording captures everything said, including topics you should not have raised or that the candidate volunteered. Keep questions to qualifications, experience and skills, do not keep the parts of a recording or transcript that stray beyond them, and be ready to explain, if a candidate asks, why a recording of the interview is necessary at all rather than notes.

Does recording your recruiters' calls raise Labour Code issues?

It can, for agencies whose phone systems record everything. Section 316(2) of the Labour Code says an employer "may not, without a serious reason based on the special nature of the employer's activity," intrude on employees' privacy at the workplace by subjecting them to "open or hidden monitoring, interception and recording of their telephone calls." Under section 316(3), where such a reason exists, the employer must "directly inform employees about the scope of the monitoring and the methods of carrying it out." A tool that records or analyzes every recruiter call captures the recruiter as well as the candidate, so record only the interviews you need, decide who may review them, and tell your own staff in writing.

What do the GDPR and the ÚOOÚ add?

A recording or transcript of an interview is personal data, so the GDPR applies in full: a lawful basis under Article 6, the Article 13 information when you collect it, data minimization, a retention limit and the candidate's rights of access, erasure and objection. The Czech implementing law, Act 110/2019 Coll. on the processing of personal data, has no special section on applicants, so the employment rules above do that work. Interviewing and note-taking usually rest on steps taken at the candidate's request before a contract or on legitimate interests; see legitimate interest in recruitment. If you also rely on consent, it must be as easy to withdraw as to give (Article 7(3)), which matches section 87 of the Civil Code.

On cloud tools, the ÚOOÚ's employer Q&A says a controller should treat a cloud provider as a processor under the GDPR, stays responsible for security under Article 32, and should settle the conditions in a contract, including "irreversible disposal of data." It adds that, given the rules on transfers, "it can be recommended to use only web services and cloud storage located in the EU and fully under the jurisdiction of European law."

How long can you keep recordings and transcripts?

No Czech statute fixes a period. The Anti-discrimination Act (198/2009 Coll.) lets a person affected by discrimination ask a court to stop it, remove its effects and award "appropriate satisfaction," with money for non-material harm in serious cases (section 10), but sets no deadline of its own. The Civil Code's general limitation period is "three years" (section 629), running from when the person learned, or should have learned, of the harm and who is liable (sections 619 and 620).

That window can justify keeping the written notes and scorecards that explain a hiring decision, with the reason documented. It does not make keeping full audio for three years proportionate. A short period for audio, a longer one for notes, and deletion on schedule is easier to defend; our retention policy template gives the structure.

What if you interview a candidate in the Czech Republic from the US?

An employer or agency established in the EU is covered by the GDPR under Article 3(1); a US company with no EU establishment is covered only where Article 3(2) applies. The Czech Civil Code protects the candidate's privacy and personal expressions, and your own state's law governs your side of the call; see two-party consent states. A transcript or recording that goes to a US vendor needs a transfer basis under Chapter V of the GDPR, such as the Commission's adequacy decision for the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (certified recipients only) or standard contractual clauses, and the ÚOOÚ's recommendation above favors EU-hosted services.

Can you use AI note takers or transcription?

Yes, with the candidate's agreement before you start, notice of the tool and vendor, and short retention. Ask the vendor where it processes and stores data, whether it keeps audio, whether it signs a processor contract with deletion terms, and whether it trains models on your interviews. A tool that scores or ranks candidates is likely to be a high-risk system under the EU AI Act. Interview Signal, for example, captures audio on the interviewer's own computer with no bot joining the call, shows a read-aloud consent line with a one-click pause, and does not retain audio after transcription; the transcript is still personal data under the rules above.

A consent line for interviews in the Czech Republic

Než začneme: rád/a bych náš rozhovor [nahrával/a / nechal/a přepsat
pomocí softwaru], abych měl/a vaše odpovědi přesně zaznamenané.
[Záznam / Přepis] použijeme jen pro toto výběrové řízení, zpřístupníme
ho jen [klientovi / budoucímu nadřízenému] a smažeme ho [lhůta] po
skončení řízení. Souhlasíte s tím? Můžete odmítnout, kdykoli požádat
o přerušení nebo souhlas později odvolat; na posouzení vaší žádosti
to nemá vliv.

(Before we start: I'd like to [record our conversation / have it
transcribed by software] so I capture your answers accurately. We use
the [recording / transcript] only for this selection process, make it
available only to [the client / your future manager] and delete it
[period] after the process ends. Do you agree? You can say no, ask for
a pause at any time or withdraw your consent later; it won't affect
how your application is assessed.)

The withdrawal line reflects section 87 of the Civil Code and Article 7(3) GDPR. Put the same information, with the Article 13 details, in the invitation and your candidate privacy notice. More wording is in the interview recording consent script.

Checklist before you record interviews in the Czech Republic

• Candidate's consent obtained before recording or live transcription starts, and noted.
• A process for withdrawal: stop using and delete the recording when asked.
• Questions limited to qualifications, experience, skills and knowledge; off-topic content not kept.
• A short written reason ready if a candidate asks why the recording is necessary.
• Recruiters told in writing if their own calls are recorded or analyzed, and only with a serious reason.
• Article 6 basis documented; Article 13 notice in the invitation.
• Processor contract with deletion terms; EU hosting or a valid Chapter V transfer basis.
• Audio deleted early; notes and scorecards kept only as long as the documented reason requires.