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Applying for a Clearance Record Printout

Definition, Explanation

Employers may request an applicant to hand in a clearance record, or police clearance record (German Führungszeugnis), in order to exclude previous convictions. If you are getting a clearance record for a company you work in or you are applying with, you need a record containing private-use information, a so-called private clearance record. If you work for a government authority, or want to apply for some official authorization (e.g. tavern license), then you need an authority-use clearance record which this article is about. Applying is possible for any contractually capable person from the age of 14. For any younger person, applying will be done by the legal representative.

If you are residing in Germany you can apply for a clearance record with your local registration office. Else, you must apply directly with the Federal Office of Justice (Bundesamt für Justiz) in Bonn. Applying is either done by appearing physically and bringing one's passport or personal ID card, or sent in written, with your signature, authenticated by an official authority and with a specification of the intended purpose. When the application letter has been received, it is passed to the Federal Central Register in Bonn. There, all former convictions are recorded. The Federal Central register prints out the clearance record and sends it. A private-use kind clearance record will be sent directly to the person requesting. An authority-use clearance record, however, will be sent to the respective authority, unless the applicant has requested to be granted prior inspection.

Content of the application:

• Personal data
• Signature of the applicant
• Address to send to
• Official authentication of personal data and of signature
• Purpose of the clearance record (private or governmental)
• For governmental clearance record, address of the authority to send to, purpose and file number

Content of the clearance record:

• Convictions of criminal acts
• Revocations of administrative decisions like trade-legal licenses or gun license
• Judgements on criminal liability
• Not included:
  • Condemnations to up to 90 days rates of financial penalty and up to 3 months of imprisonment if there is no other conviction recorded in the Federal Central Register
  • Youth penalties up to 2 years with suspended sentence
  • Warning with suspended sentence
• Additionally in authority-use clearance records:
  • Any imprisonment
  • Convictions related to economic crime or trade holding
  • Absence of criminal liability established
  • Authority decisions recorded in Federal Central Register

Deletion of entries in the criminal record:

• Deletion after 3 years
  • Financial penalties
  • Imprisonment for less than 3 months
  • Any penalty with suspended sentence
  • Many of the youth penalties
• Deletion after 5 years
  • Imprisonment for longer than 3 months
• Deletion after 10 years
  • Sexual offence with imprisonment for longer than 1 year
• Preterm deletion on request by Federal Prosecutor General in rare cases

Plans for the future include online requests by registry offices to the Federal Central Register. This will make delivery of clearance records faster. Today, the usual editing time is 1 to 2 weeks.

Tips, Checklist

• In the application, you have to specify the purpose the clearance record is meant for, that is for private use or for authority use
• In case of an authority-use clearance record, you can request to be granted inspection before it is sent to the authority. In case you do so, the record will be sent to your county court to allow you inspection. Then you can decide whether it should be forwarded or deleted
• The fee for applying is currently 13 Euros (June 2009)

Last update: 06/01/2010