IFATCA policy regarding CCTV
IFATCA, the international federation representing controllers across the world, has had policy in place for many years opposing the use of CCTV cameras. Ideally airport design should enable direct visual observation of the entire manoeuvering area.
However, as there are so many airports where CCTV is now required during to a lack of direct visual observation, it is looking likely that the current IFATCA policy may be relaxed in the near future. There is some concern though that the acceptance of CCTV may be taken as a form of acceptance of the Virtual Tower concept that is being proposed in Sweden and Germany.