Führungszeugnis in Germany: What the Certificate of Conduct Shows and What It Leaves Out

The Führungszeugnis is the certificate of conduct issued from the Bundeszentralregister, the federal central criminal register kept by the Bundesamt für Justiz in Bonn. An employer, a licensing authority or a voluntary organisation asks for it because it is the only document in Germany that states whether a person is recorded as convicted.

What confuses most people, and especially people who moved to Germany from a common law country, is that the Führungszeugnis is not a printout of the register. The register holds more than the certificate shows. German law deliberately filters what reaches an employer, and the filter is generous at the lower end.

That filter is the single most useful thing to understand here. A first conviction that resulted in a fine of up to 90 Tagessätze, or a custodial sentence of up to three months, is not written into the ordinary certificate at all, provided no other penalty is recorded. The conviction exists, the register holds it, and the sheet handed to the employer says nothing about it.

This page sets out what each version of the certificate contains, who may lawfully ask for the extended version, how long an entry remains visible, how the application works and what it costs, and how the rules apply to people who hold a non German nationality.

Information last verified on 20 July 2026. This page provides general legal information and does not constitute legal advice in an individual case.

What the Führungszeugnis is, and what it is not

The Bundeszentralregister records criminal convictions handed down by German courts, along with certain other decisions. The Führungszeugnis is a certificate drawn from that register about one named person, and § 30 Abs. 1 BZRG allows every person who has reached the age of 14 to apply for their own.

The certificate is not a police file, a background check or a credit record. It says nothing about ongoing investigations, nothing about proceedings that were discontinued, and nothing about arrests that produced no conviction. A person under investigation whose case is later dropped has no entry, because there was no conviction to record.

Nor is the certificate handed to anyone else by default. § 30 Abs. 4 BZRG allows transmission only to the applicant, who then decides whether to pass it on. The one structural exception is the version requested for submission to an authority, which is dealt with below.

The rule that matters most: § 32 Abs. 2 BZRG

Most people who search for this topic are worried about one specific thing, which is whether an old conviction will appear. § 32 Abs. 2 BZRG is where the answer usually sits.

That provision lists what is not written into the certificate even though it sits in the register. The most widely relevant item is § 32 Abs. 2 Nr. 5 BZRG, which excludes convictions imposing a Geldstrafe of not more than 90 Tagessätze, or a Freiheitsstrafe or Strafarrest of not more than three months, where no further penalty is recorded in the register.

The condition at the end carries the whole weight. It is a one entry rule. A single low level conviction stays invisible on the ordinary certificate. A second recorded penalty, of any size, removes the shelter, and the earlier conviction becomes visible along with the new one.

Other items in the list matter in narrower situations. § 32 Abs. 2 Nr. 1 BZRG excludes the Verwarnung mit Strafvorbehalt under § 59 StGB, and Nr. 2 excludes the Schuldspruch under § 27 JGG. Several further items deal with Jugendstrafe and with sentences deferred or suspended in connection with addiction treatment.

There is a hard limit on all of this. Under § 32 Abs. 1 Satz 2 BZRG the exceptions in Nr. 3 to 9 do not apply to convictions for the offences under §§ 174 bis 180 or § 182 StGB. Those convictions appear regardless of the sentence.

A worked example

Take a resident of Munich convicted in 2023 of Diebstahl and sentenced to a Geldstrafe of 60 Tagessätze at 40 Euro per day, so 2.400 Euro in total. The register holds the conviction. No other penalty has ever been recorded against him.

He applies for an ordinary Führungszeugnis in 2026 for a job application. Because 60 Tagessätze is below the 90 Tagessätze threshold and it is the only entry, § 32 Abs. 2 Nr. 5 BZRG applies and the certificate is issued with no entries. § 53 Abs. 1 BZRG then allows him to describe himself as unbestraft.

Now change one fact. Suppose that in 2025 he was also convicted of a driving offence and fined 30 Tagessätze. Two penalties are now recorded, so the one entry condition in § 32 Abs. 2 Nr. 5 BZRG fails for both of them. Both convictions appear on the certificate, and how long each remains visible is then governed by the periods in § 34 BZRG.

The three versions of the certificate

The version that arrives depends on what was asked for at the point of application, so it is worth knowing which is which before filling in the form.

The Behördenführungszeugnis is requested when an authority needs the certificate, for example in a driving licence or trade permit matter. § 32 Abs. 3 BZRG requires it to include material the private version omits, such as convictions imposing a custodial measure of correction and prevention, and entries under §§ 10 and 11 BZRG within the periods stated there. In practice that covers decisions such as the revocation of a weapons permit or a business authorisation.

This version is sent by the Bundesamt für Justiz straight to the authority rather than to the applicant. § 30 Abs. 5 BZRG softens that in two ways. The authority must allow the person to inspect the certificate on request, and the person may ask, at the point of application, for a certificate containing entries to go first to a named Amtsgericht for inspection. If the person then objects to onward transmission, the Amtsgericht destroys it.

When an employer may demand the erweitertes Führungszeugnis

The extended certificate is the version most often misapplied by an employer, because it is assumed to be simply the thorough option. § 30a Abs. 1 BZRG does not work that way.

It is issued in two situations only. The first is where a statutory provision requires it by express reference to § 30a BZRG. The second is where the certificate is needed for professional or voluntary supervision, care, education or training of minors, or for an activity comparable to that in its capacity to bring the person into contact with minors.

§ 30a Abs. 2 BZRG builds in the control. The applicant must produce a written request from the body demanding the certificate, confirming that the conditions of Abs. 1 are met. Without that document the extended certificate is not issued, so an employer with no role of that kind cannot obtain one indirectly.

What the extended version adds is defined by § 32 Abs. 5 BZRG. For the offences listed there, which include §§ 171, 180a, 181a, 183 bis 184g, 184i bis 184l, § 201a Abs. 3, §§ 225, 232 bis 233a, 234, 235 and § 236 StGB, the exemptions in § 32 Abs. 2 Nr. 3 bis 9 BZRG do not apply. A conviction that would be filtered out of an ordinary certificate is therefore shown.

There is also a data handling rule that employers frequently overlook. Under § 30a Abs. 3 BZRG the receiving body may process the data only so far as necessary to assess suitability for the activity that prompted the request, must protect it from unauthorised access, must delete it without delay if the person does not take up the activity, and must delete it at the latest six months after the activity was last performed.

How long an entry stays visible

Two separate timetables run in parallel here, and mixing them up is the most common error in circulation on this topic.

The first is the period after which a conviction is no longer written into the Führungszeugnis. § 33 Abs. 1 BZRG states the principle and § 34 BZRG sets the periods.

§ 34 Abs. 3 BZRG extends several of these periods by the length of the sentence imposed, so a longer sentence pushes the end point further out. § 33 Abs. 2 BZRG removes the time limit entirely for a small group of the most serious cases, including life imprisonment where the remainder has not been remitted and cases in which Sicherungsverwahrung was ordered.

The second timetable is deletion from the register itself. § 45 BZRG provides for Tilgung after a set period, and § 46 BZRG sets that period at five, ten, fifteen or twenty years depending on the sentence. § 45 Abs. 2 BZRG then adds a further year before the entry is physically removed, during which information about it is given only to the person concerned.

So a conviction can be invisible on the certificate for years while still sitting in the register. That gap is what § 41 BZRG governs: the bodies listed there, including courts, prosecutors, tax authorities pursuing tax offences and naturalisation authorities, receive unrestricted information covering entries the certificate does not show.

Applying, and what it costs

There are three routes. The online portal operated by the Bundesamt für Justiz at fuehrungszeugnis.bund.de handles applications electronically. Alternatively § 30 Abs. 2 BZRG requires the application to be made to the local Meldebehörde in person, or in writing with an officially or publicly certified signature, and that office forwards it to the Bundesamt für Justiz.

A person living outside Germany may apply directly to the Bundesamt für Justiz under § 30 Abs. 3 BZRG. The Bundesamt für Justiz notes that applications made from abroad, and applications with an international element such as an Apostille, are currently taking longer than usual.

The fee is 13,00 Euro, payable with the application at the Meldebehörde or online. § 30 Abs. 2 BZRG directs the Meldebehörde to retain two fifths of the fee and pass the remainder to the Bundeskasse. The Bundesamt für Justiz publishes a leaflet setting out the situations in which the fee may be waived.

One practical point that surprises people is that the certificate has no statutory validity period. The Bundesamt für Justiz explains that a certificate reflects the register content at the moment of issue only, and that it is for the recipient to decide how recent a certificate it accepts. Three months is the figure commonly used in practice.

Representation by an authorised agent is excluded at the application stage. § 30 Abs. 2 Satz 3 BZRG bars both the applicant and any legal representative from acting through a Bevollmächtigter when the application is made.

The Europäisches Führungszeugnis

For anyone who is not solely a German national, § 30b BZRG is the relevant provision. Where the person holds the nationality of another EU member state, in addition to German nationality or instead of it, the certificate is issued as a Europäisches Führungszeugnis.

That means the certificate carries, alongside the German content, the register information transmitted by the home state, reproduced in full and in the language in which it was transmitted. Decisions of German courts are not repeated in that part. There is no translation and no substantive review of what the other state sends.

The United Kingdom is covered on a statutory footing rather than by practice alone: § 30b Abs. 1a BZRG extends the regime to a Partnerstaat, meaning a third state with which the European Union has agreed electronic exchange of criminal record information. § 30b BZRG also reaches Drittstaatsangehörige more generally, with § 30b Abs. 3 Nr. 1 routing those requests through the ECRIS-TCN system. Note a tension worth knowing about before you apply: the Bundesamt für Justiz guidance available at the time of writing still describes the older position, under which a third-country national receives a certificate carrying German register information only. Where the guidance and the amended statute diverge, ask the authority what it will actually do in your case.

Timing is the practical consequence. § 30b Abs. 4 BZRG expects the certificate to be issued at the latest twenty working days after the register authority sends its request, and the home state has that same window to respond. If no answer comes, the certificate says so on its face.

The European version can be issued as a private certificate, as a certificate for submission to an authority, or as an extended certificate, depending on what was applied for. One practical restriction the Bundesamt für Justiz flags is that collection in person in Bonn is not available where a Europäisches Führungszeugnis has been applied for.

Early non-inclusion under § 39 BZRG

There is a route to having a conviction kept off the certificate before the ordinary period has run. § 39 Abs. 1 BZRG allows the register authority, on application or of its own motion, to order that a conviction is not included, unless the public interest weighs against that order.

The Bundesamt für Justiz describes the threshold as narrow. Career difficulties on their own are not enough, and an exceptional case is generally accepted only where inclusion would amount to an unreasonable hardship, which the applicant has to substantiate with documents. The order can be limited, for example to a single issue of a certificate, or to certificates other than the extended version.

§ 39 Abs. 2 BZRG blocks such an order while the person remains deprived, as a result of the conviction, of the capacity to hold public office or of the right to vote in public matters. § 39 Abs. 3 BZRG provides for an appeal within two weeks of notification, decided by the federal justice ministry if the register authority does not remedy the point itself.

For related material on the German criminal process, see filing a criminal report and self-defence under § 32 StGB, and for the wider guide see German criminal law and Germany.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a Führungszeugnis show?

It shows the entries from the Bundeszentralregister that § 32 BZRG requires to be included, which is essentially criminal convictions that clear the filtering rules. It does not show ongoing investigations, discontinued proceedings or arrests that produced no conviction.

Will a small fine appear on my Führungszeugnis?

Under § 32 Abs. 2 Nr. 5 BZRG a conviction to a Geldstrafe of not more than 90 Tagessätze, or a Freiheitsstrafe or Strafarrest of not more than three months, is not included where no further penalty is recorded in the register. A second recorded penalty removes that exemption and both convictions then appear.

How much does a Führungszeugnis cost and how do I apply?

The fee is 13,00 Euro. Applications can be made through the online portal of the Bundesamt für Justiz, in person at the local Meldebehörde, or in writing with an officially certified signature. People living outside Germany may apply directly to the Bundesamt für Justiz under § 30 Abs. 3 BZRG.

Can any employer ask for an erweitertes Führungszeugnis?

No. § 30a Abs. 1 BZRG limits it to cases where a statute expressly requires it or where the role involves supervision, care, education or training of minors or comparable contact with minors. § 30a Abs. 2 BZRG requires the applicant to produce a written confirmation from the body demanding it.

How long does a conviction stay on the Führungszeugnis?

§ 34 BZRG sets the periods at three, five, ten or twenty years depending on the sentence, and § 34 Abs. 3 BZRG extends several of them by the length of the sentence imposed. Deletion from the register itself follows a separate and longer timetable under §§ 45 and 46 BZRG.

Can a person with a spent conviction say they have no criminal record?

§ 53 Abs. 1 BZRG provides that a person whose conviction is not to be included in the certificate, or is due for deletion, may describe themselves as unbestraft and need not disclose the underlying facts. That does not apply towards courts and authorities with an unrestricted right of enquiry under § 41 BZRG where the person has been warned about it.

I am not a German national. Which certificate is issued?

Under § 30b BZRG a national of another EU member state, and in the practice of the Bundesamt für Justiz a national of the United Kingdom, receives a Europäisches Führungszeugnis that adds the register content transmitted by the home state. Holders of other nationalities receive a certificate with German register content only.

How long is a Führungszeugnis valid?

There is no statutory validity period. The Bundesamt für Justiz explains that a certificate reflects the register only at the moment of issue, and that it is for the recipient to decide how recent a document it will accept, with three months being the period commonly cited in practice.