A criminal conviction can have consequences even after the proceedings have ended. Employers ask for a certificate of good conduct, authorities examine professional reliability and courts take earlier convictions into account. In this context the Federal Central Criminal Register (Bundeszentralregister) and the certificate of good conduct (Führungszeugnis) are frequently confused. They by no means contain the same information.
Which decisions are entered in the register?
The central register stores above all final convictions by the criminal courts. In addition, certain decisions of courts and administrative authorities are entered, for example a prohibition on practising a profession on grounds of unreliability. Not every criminal report and not every discontinued investigation therefore leads to an entry in the Federal Central Criminal Register. The legal basis is the Federal Central Register Act (BZRG).
Alongside this, the register of educational measures (Erziehungsregister) exists for certain decisions relating to juveniles. Its entries do not appear in the ordinary certificate of good conduct. They are as a rule removed when the person reaches the age of 24; statutory exceptions have to be borne in mind. Decisions imposing administrative fines, on the other hand, may be significant in other registers, for example in the driving aptitude register (Fahreignungsregister) or the central trade register (Gewerbezentralregister).
What does an employer see?
A certificate of good conduct contains only an extract which is limited by law. A first fine of no more than 90 daily rates frequently does not appear in the ordinary certificate of good conduct. It does not follow from this, however, either that the conviction is not registered or that this threshold applies to every offence and every type of information. Further entries and special catalogues of offences can change the outcome. Additional rules apply to extended certificates of good conduct. The decisive provision is § 32 BZRG.
Certain authorities receive more far-reaching information where the statutory requirements are met. Anyone who wishes to check all the entries themselves can apply for information under § 42 BZRG. This inspection is subject to special procedural rules and is not to be equated with a complete extract from the register that can be used freely.
When are entries removed?
The basic statutory periods are five, ten, fifteen or twenty years. Which period applies depends, among other things, on the type of penalty, the level of the penalty, the offence and any further entries. A fine of up to 90 daily rates is in principle subject to the five-year period, provided that no custodial sentence, no military detention (Strafarrest) and no youth custody sentence is entered. For the offences listed in § 46(1) no. 1a BZRG, however, a basic period of ten years applies even in the case of such penalties. The requirement of “no further penalty at all” applies to other groups of cases and must not be equated with the five-year rule for fines.
The twenty-year period concerns certain sexual offences carrying more than one year’s custodial or youth custody sentence. In other cases for which no special rule exists, the fifteen-year period applies in principle. In addition, the length of the sentence imposed may be added to it. The details are set out in § 46 BZRG.
The actual date of removal can therefore not be calculated reliably simply by adding a flat-rate period to the date of the judgment. Further convictions may suspend removal; a grace period (Überliegefrist) and special exceptions have to be taken into account. Separate and often shorter periods apply to the certificate of good conduct under § 34 BZRG.
Why is this part of the defence?
For some clients an entry in the register is a greater professional burden than the fine itself. We therefore examine such consequences wherever possible before a negotiated agreement (Verständigung) or before the decision on a penalty order (Strafbefehl). Nor should duties to provide information to employers or authorities be derived solely from the statement “my certificate of good conduct is clean”.
Where there are doubts about an entry, we check its basis and the calculation of the period. In addition, for certain earlier cannabis convictions there is a special procedure for removal under the Consumer Cannabis Act (KCanG). Whether its requirements are met must be assessed on the basis of the specific conviction.