Lithuania interview recording laws: Article 22 of the Constitution, the GDPR and Article 5 of the data protection law

Recording a job interview with a candidate in Lithuania is governed mainly by data protection law, with the Constitution in the background: Article 22 makes "telephone conversations" and "other communications" inviolable. The GDPR applies in full, and Article 5 of Lithuania's Law on the Legal Protection of Personal Data adds employment-specific rules: references from a candidate's current employer only with consent, criminal record data only under strict conditions, and provable notice to employees before audio or video data are processed at work. Tell the candidate before you record and keep the recording briefly. The regulator is the State Data Protection Inspectorate (VDAI). This is the position as of November 2026.

This page adds Lithuania to our country series alongside Poland, Finland and Germany. It is for recruiters, agency consultants and hiring managers who interview candidates located in Lithuania by video or phone, including from the US. The Constitution is quoted from the Seimas's English translation; other quotations from Lithuanian are our translations.

Lithuania's rules at a glance

Is it legal to record a job interview in Lithuania?

Yes, with notice and a lawful basis. Article 22 of the Constitution reads, in the Seimas's English translation: "Private life shall be inviolable. Personal correspondence, telephone conversations, telegraph messages, and other communications shall be inviolable." It adds that information concerning a person's private life "may be collected only upon a justified court decision and only according to the law," and that "the law and courts shall protect everyone from arbitrary or unlawful interference with his private and family life."

The Criminal Code articles that Lithuania notified to the European Commission, in the consolidated version in force from January 1, 2026, include Article 198, which punishes "whoever unlawfully monitored, recorded, intercepted, acquired, stored, appropriated, disseminated or otherwise used non-public electronic data" with a fine, restriction of liberty, arrest or up to four years in prison; legal persons are liable too. The key word is "unlawfully." We found no official text applying it to a participant's own record of a call, and we could not review the Code's other provisions on private life and correspondence. A recording made with the candidate's knowledge and on a documented GDPR basis is the lawful version; a hidden one invites a dispute you do not want.

What does the GDPR cover, and what does Lithuanian law add?

A recording or transcript of an interview is personal data, so the GDPR applies in full: a lawful basis under Article 6 (usually steps taken at the candidate's request before a contract, or legitimate interests; see legitimate interest in recruitment), the Article 13 information when the recording starts, data minimization, a retention limit, the candidate's rights, and Article 22 on decisions based solely on automated processing.

Lithuania used the room Article 88 GDPR leaves for employment rules. Article 5 of the Law on the Legal Protection of Personal Data, in the consolidated version in force from January 1, 2025 that Lithuania notified to the Commission, sets out "specifics of processing personal data in cases related to employment relations":

• References (Article 5(3)). "The controller may collect personal data of a candidate applying for a position or to perform work functions relating to qualifications, professional abilities and business qualities from a former employer after informing the candidate in advance, and from the current employer only with the candidate's consent." If an interview leads to reference calls, say so.
• Criminal records (Article 5(1) and (2)). Data on a candidate's convictions and criminal offenses may be processed only where the employer has a legal obligation to check them, or for its legitimate interests with safeguards: a written assessment, consultation with the data protection officer if one is appointed, a list approved and published on the employer's website of positions that require a clean record for named offenses, and data supplied by the candidate. Do not raise convictions in an interview outside that framework.
• Recording at work (Article 5(4)). "When processing video and/or audio data at the workplace and in the controller's premises or territories where its employees work," employees "must be informed of such processing against signature or by another method proving the fact of informing," with the information in Article 13(1) and (2) GDPR.
• Equivalent relationships (Article 5(5)). The article also applies to people working on legal grounds the Law on Employment treats as equivalent to employment, and to candidates for such work.

What does that mean for recording your own recruiters?

Candidates are not employees, but your interviewers are, and a recording or analytics tool captures them too. Under Article 5(4), recruiters whose calls are recorded must be informed provably, for example by signing an acknowledgment. The Labor Code adds two duties, in the text Lithuania notified: Article 27 requires employers to respect employees' rights to private life and data protection and says that, when an employer exercises its rights over workplace technology, "the confidentiality of employees' personal correspondence may not be violated"; and Article 206 requires an employer with on average twenty or more employees to inform and consult the works council before adopting or changing local rules on "the use of information and communication technologies and the monitoring and control of employees at the workplace," on measures that may affect employees' privacy, and on its employee data retention policy. Without a works council or trustee, the information goes to the trade union at the employer.

What about the VDAI?

The State Data Protection Inspectorate supervises the GDPR in Lithuania and, under Article 11 of the law, advises and publishes methodological recommendations on its website. We could not load its website when writing this page, so we do not summarize its guidance on recruitment or recording. Check it, or ask the Inspectorate, before you roll out interview recording at scale.

Can candidates get the recording?

Yes. Under Article 15 GDPR the candidate can ask for a copy of their personal data, including a recording or transcript, and Article 12(3) requires an answer within one month, extendable only where the GDPR allows. Where the request is made electronically, provide the copy in a commonly used electronic form. Our candidate data access requests guide has a workflow.

How long can you keep recordings and transcripts?

We found no Lithuanian rule in the texts we reviewed that fixes a period for candidate recordings, so the GDPR's storage-limitation principle governs. Set a period tied to the hiring decision and any dispute window, keep written notes longer than audio if you need a record, document why, and delete on schedule. Keeping a recording for future vacancies is a new purpose: tell the candidate and ask. Our retention policy template gives the structure.

What if you interview a candidate in Lithuania 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. Article 22 of the Constitution protects the candidate wherever the recorder sits, and your own state's law governs your side of the call; see two-party consent states. A recording or transcript sent 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.

Can you use AI note takers or transcription?

Yes, with notice before you start, the candidate's agreement, a documented legal basis, a processor contract under Article 28 GDPR, a transfer basis for any vendor outside the EU, and short retention. Ask the vendor where it stores audio and transcripts, how long it keeps them, and whether it trains models on your interviews, which would be a new purpose. A tool that scores or ranks candidates is likely to be a high-risk system under the EU AI Act, and if your recruiters' own calls are analyzed, Article 5(4) and the works council rules above apply. 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 Lithuania

Prieš pradėdami: norėčiau [įrašyti mūsų pokalbį / naudoti programą,
kuri pokalbį paverčia tekstu], kad tiksliai užfiksuočiau Jūsų
atsakymus. [Įrašą / Tekstą] naudosime tik šiai atrankai, perduosime
tik [klientui / už įdarbinimą atsakingam vadovui] ir ištrinsime
praėjus [terminas] po atrankos pabaigos. Ar sutinkate? Galite
atsisakyti arba bet kada paprašyti sustoti – tai neturės jokios
įtakos Jūsų kandidatūrai.

(Before we start: I'd like to [record our conversation / use software
that turns the conversation into text] so I capture your answers
accurately. We'll use the [recording / text] only for this selection,
pass it only to [the client / the hiring manager] and delete it
[period] after the selection ends. Do you agree? You can say no or ask
me to stop at any time; it won't affect your application.)

Put the same information, with the Article 13 details, in the invitation and your candidate privacy notice, and add a line about reference checks if you plan any. More wording is in the interview recording consent script.

Checklist before you record interviews in Lithuania

• Candidate told before recording or live transcription starts, asked, and the answer noted.
• Article 6 basis documented; Article 13 notice in the invitation, naming any client who receives the recording.
• Reference calls: candidate informed for former employers, consent for the current employer.
• No criminal record questions unless a law requires the check or your published list covers the position.
• Recruiters informed provably before their calls are recorded; works council consulted where required.
• Retention period set and followed; VDAI guidance checked.
• US vendors certified under the Data Privacy Framework or covered by standard contractual clauses.

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