Letter from BSCC to Hikvision 21 March 2022 (accessible)
Updated 15 November 2023
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Justin Hollis
Marketing Director Hikvision UK and Ireland
By e-mail to
21st March 2022
Re: Surveillance-Enabled Human Rights Atrocities
Dear Justin,
Further to my recent correspondence regarding the CCTV User Group conference next month, I was advised in writing by the conference organisers that they had decided to withdraw your invitation and that Hikvision would no longer be presenting or advertising their products there. I noted that Hikvision were removed from the conference website and programme.
When this decision was subsequently reversed without notifying my office, I advised the organisers that I would no longer be attending their conference.
As you heard me say at another professional event, the IPSA patrons debate on 16 March, if we are to maintain public trust and confidence in the accountable and ethical use of surveillance it is critical that we have open, honest and evidence-based debate and I will support every opportunity where this is the approach. Had you made your presence known to me during that debate I would have been able to tell you this.
I was nevertheless pleased to read that the CCTV User Group share my concerns over the abhorrent and intolerable treatment of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang and presume they speak for all their members - including Hikvision - when they say so. However, it is clear that if we are to expect any practical effect from some quarters, we will need to be more prescriptive. To that end I welcome ministers’ assurances that some of the issues will be addressed in the forthcoming Public Procurement Bill. My office will be working closely with officials drafting that legislation and I will also be producing some ethical guidance under the government’s Surveillance Camera Code of Practice.
In the meantime, I have noted the content of your letter sent on the same day as you attended the IPSA event and am bound to say that I cannot see how the questions I have asked engage matters of commercial confidentiality; I do however understand that you might not be free to answer them. Should this situation change, I will readily meet with you once you have addressed the questions and we can then discuss our respective responsibilities and expectations in ensuring the ethical and accountable development of public space surveillance.
Yours sincerely
Professor Fraser Sampson
Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner