Apply for an extended certificate of good conduct (erweitertes Führungszeugnis)

Why the fee is the same everywhere: The Führungszeugnis is not a municipal service but information from the Federal Central Criminal Register. The €13.00 fee is therefore set by federal law and must not be increased or reduced by a federal state or local authority. The registration authority forwards the full amount to the Federal Office of Justice and does not charge any additional fee for taking the application.

Fee exemption for voluntary work: If the extended Führungszeugnis is needed exclusively for unpaid voluntary work, the fee is not charged under preliminary note 1.1.3 of the cost schedule to the Judicial Administration Costs Act; this applies to voluntary legal custodianship under § 19 Abs. 1, § 21 of the Custodianship Organisation Act (Betreuungsorganisationsgesetz, BtOG) as well as to voluntary work for a non-profit organisation, an authority or in a service under § 32 Abs. 4 Nr. 2 Buchst. d of the Income Tax Act (Einkommensteuergesetz, EStG). You must expressly apply for the exemption on submission of the application and support it with a confirmation from the organisation showing that the work is unpaid. If you pay instead and only claim the exemption later, you will as a rule not get the €13.00 back. If the activity is paid even partly – for example through an expense allowance exceeding the reimbursement of expenses – the competent body decides on the exemption in each individual case.

No refund if you apply for the wrong certificate: The fee is charged for the processing, not for a particular result. If you accidentally apply for a standard instead of an extended Führungszeugnis or the request is missing, the issued document is not exchanged free of charge – you must submit a new application and pay the €13.00 again. The same applies if the certificate is lost: there is no replacement copy from the old application.

Applying online saves you an appointment at the office: Via the portal of the Federal Office of Justice, you can submit the application around the clock and avoid waiting for an appointment at the Bürgeramt. The requirements are an identity document with an activated online ID function including the six-digit PIN, and an NFC-enabled smartphone or a card reader with the AusweisApp. Processing in the register then runs identically – the time saved arises only at the submission of the application, not in printing and postal dispatch.

Belegart N or O – the most common stumbling block: Belegart N is the private copy, which is sent to you personally; it is also the right choice if you have to present the certificate to an employer, a sports club or an independent welfare institution, because these are not authorities. Choose Belegart O only if an authority actually requires the certificate – it is then sent directly there and you do not receive a copy of your own. The Belegart cannot be changed afterwards; changing it requires a new application subject to a fee.

Advance inspection at the Amtsgericht with Belegart O: If your certificate is intended for submission to an authority, you can request that it first be sent to an Amtsgericht of your choice. There you inspect it and find out which entries the authority will see before the document is forwarded. You must make this request in the application itself – the dispatch cannot be stopped afterwards.

Validity and renewal: The Act on the Central Criminal Register and the Educative Measures Register does not provide for a period of validity – the certificate reflects the state of the register on the day of issue. For activities under § 72a Abs. 5 SGB VIII, however, it must not be older than three months when the institution inspects it. Therefore do not apply too early, but only once the start of the activity is in sight. Many institutions also agree with the Jugendamt (youth welfare office) on repeated inspections at fixed intervals, often every five years.

The institution must not keep the certificate: Under § 72a Abs. 5 SGB VIII, the organisation only inspects it and may record only that an extended Führungszeugnis was presented, the date on which it was issued and that no relevant conviction was entered. A copy of the certificate in the personnel file is not permitted. You keep the original and can also present it to several organisations before the three-month deadline runs out.

Voluntary work: If you need the certificate exclusively for unpaid voluntary work, you do not pay the fee under preliminary note 1.1.3 KV JVKostG. The organisation must certify your voluntary status, and the application for exemption must be submitted together with the main application. Many associations and umbrella organisations issue the request and the confirmation of voluntary status in a single letter – before starting the official procedure, check that both points are expressly included.

Nationals of other EU states: For EU citizens, a European certificate of good conduct (Europäisches Führungszeugnis) is issued under § 30b BZRG. The Federal Office of Justice also obtains information from the criminal register of the member state of origin, so that the certificate can also show convictions handed down there. The fee remains €13.00, but because of the query abroad, processing often takes noticeably longer than two to three weeks. Third-country nationals living in Germany receive a German Führungszeugnis that contains only the entries stored in the Federal Central Criminal Register.

Living abroad: If you are not registered in Germany, send the application directly to the Federal Office of Justice. The signature must be officially certified, usually by the competent German mission abroad or a notary; the certification incurs its own costs, which depend on the certifying body. Because of international postal times, expect several additional weeks and apply for the certificate correspondingly early.

Applicants who are minors: Under § 30 Abs. 1 BZRG, any person who has reached the age of 14 can apply for a Führungszeugnis themselves – relevant in practice, for example, for young group leaders in youth organisations or for trainees in a Kita (child daycare centre). For younger persons and for persons for whom legal custodianship has been set up, the legal representative submits the application and must also prove their identity.

Doubts about the entries: If you want to know what is stored about you without presenting a Führungszeugnis, you can apply to the Federal Office of Justice for free information from the Federal Central Criminal Register. This information is not sent to your home but to an Amtsgericht of your choice, where you can inspect it. If you consider an entry to be incorrect, submit an application for correction to the Federal Office of Justice – a certificate that has already been issued is not automatically replaced as a result.

Turning up for the appointment without a request in writing: Without the request under § 30a Abs. 2 BZRG, the registration authority must not accept an application for an extended Führungszeugnis. The result is either a cancelled appointment followed by a search for a new one or – worse – a standard Führungszeugnis that the institution does not accept. In both cases you lose two to three weeks, and in the second case also the €13.00 you have already paid.

Request without the confirmation required by law: A letter that merely says “please present an extended Führungszeugnis” is not sufficient in many places. What is required is the express confirmation that the requirements of § 30a Abs. 1 Nr. 2 BZRG are met. If it is missing, the application is rejected or the Federal Office of Justice raises queries that extend processing by weeks.

Applying for a standard instead of an extended certificate: State expressly at the counter and in the online form that you need the extended Führungszeugnis. Switching afterwards is not possible, the fee is not refunded, and you have to repeat the entire process, paying another €13.00. If the activity is due to start soon, this can mean that you are not allowed to take up the work.

Choosing the wrong Belegart: If you tick Belegart O although an association or an independent welfare institution requires the certificate, you do not receive a copy yourself – the document goes to a body that never requested it, or the dispatch fails. This can only be corrected with a completely new application, again subject to a fee.

Outdated registered address: The certificate is sent exclusively to the address stored in the population register. After a move without an Ummeldung (change of address), the letter ends up with the previous tenants or is returned as undeliverable; free re-sending is not provided for. Therefore register your new home first – under § 17 BMG a two-week deadline applies to this anyway, and missing it can be punished as a regulatory offence (Ordnungswidrigkeit).

Applying too early: If you obtain the certificate months before the activity starts, you risk it being older than three months at the time of inspection, so that under § 72a Abs. 5 SGB VIII it must no longer be used. The institution must then refuse it, and you apply for the document a second time – with the full fee and a new waiting time.

Applying for the fee exemption only afterwards: The exemption for voluntary work only takes effect if it is claimed together with the application and with the organisation’s confirmation. If you pay first and submit the certificate of voluntary status later, you will as a rule not get the €13.00 back.

Starting the activity before the inspection: Under § 72a SGB VIII, child and youth welfare institutions may only employ people or deploy them as volunteers once the extended Führungszeugnis has been inspected. Anyone who starts without presenting it puts the organisation in breach of the law; in practice, the assignment is then suspended until the document is available – the start of work, the holiday camp or the internship is postponed accordingly.