Facial recognition should be banned in Europe because of its deep and undemocratic invasion of people's privacy, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) said.

Earlier, the European Commission proposed draft rules that would allow the use of facial recognition to search for missing children or criminals, as well as in cases of terrorist attacks.

The draft rules, which need to be discussed with the EU countries and the European Parliament, are an attempt by the Commission to establish global rules for artificial intelligence.

EDPS said it regrets that the Commission did not heed its previous call to ban facial recognition in public places.

EDPS will focus on establishing precise boundaries for those tools and systems that may pose risks to fundamental data protection and privacy rights.