An extract from the criminal record is a document containing details from the national criminal records register which is used to check a person's criminal background (a natural or legal person). The criminal record shows if a person has been convicted in the past or not.

For instance, it will allow an applicant to provide adequate guarantees of good conduct and integrity in the context of an application for a business permit.

The criminal records register contains the sentences pronounced by the Luxembourg criminal jurisdictions and may also contain sentences pronounced abroad.

As a matter of fact, due to the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS) and for the purposes of centralisation, the sentences pronounced in an EU Member State are automatically notified to the Member State in which the legal person has established its registered office.

The extract from the criminal record of a legal person can be requested:

• either remotely (via internet, email, post or fax);
• or in person, at the Criminal Records Department (Service du casier judiciaire) in Luxembourg city.

The Criminal Records Department issues criminal record certificates free of charge to natural persons and legal persons who so request. It will also issue criminal record certificates to certain administrations authorised by Grand Ducal regulation, but who must nevertheless first obtain the concerned person's approval.

The extracts from the criminal record are in French.

Who is concerned

Each legal person with their effective registered office in Luxembourg can request an extract from their criminal record. Extracts from the criminal record of legal persons having their effective registered office abroad must be applied for to the competent authorities in the country concerned.

An extract from the criminal record may have to be provided:

• when applying for a business permit to gain access to certain professions;
• to access a profession in the healthcare sector;
• in response to an employer's request during the recruitment or management of personnel, e.g. when someone is hired:
  • to carry out professional or voluntary activities involving regular contact with minors, which requires the presentation of a specific extract "Protection of minors" (Protection des mineurs);
  • for certain professional sectors of activity (private sector, private security, cash transportation, etc.);
• when responding to a public tender (a criminal record certificate for legal persons if it concerns a company, or for natural persons in the case of a sole trader), etc.

Costs

The extract from the criminal record is issued free of charge to the natural or legal person who applies for it.

How to proceed

Extract from the criminal record of a legal person

Online application

Applicants may submit a request for an extract from the criminal record of a legal person online after having identified themselves on MyGuichet.lu with a LuxTrust product or an electronic identity card and by providing:

• a scanned copy of their identity card, passport or residence permit;
• a recent extract from the Trade and Companies Register providing proof that the applicant is duly authorised to act and sign on behalf of the company.

Application by e-mail, fax or post

Applicants can submit a request (on plain paper) for an extract from the criminal record of a legal person by e-mail, fax or post to the Criminal Records Department together with:

• a legible copy of their identity card, passport or residence permit;
• a recent extract from the Trade and Companies Register providing proof that the applicant is duly authorised to act and sign on behalf of the company.

The applicant must specify the number of certificates they need.

Application in person at the Criminal Records Department

Applicants can request an extract from the criminal record in person at the Criminal Records Department. They have to present:

• their identity card, their passport or their residence permit;
• a recent extract from the Trade and Companies Register providing proof that the applicant is duly authorised to act and sign on behalf of the company.

The applicant must specify the number of certificates they need.

Application by a third party at the Criminal Records Department

A third party can submit the application for the criminal record extract on behalf of a legal person, by going in person to the Criminal Records Department and presenting:

• a power of attorney;
• their identity card, their passport or their residence permit;
• a recent extract from the Trade and Companies Register providing proof that the applicant is duly authorised to act and sign on behalf of the company.

The third party will then receive the requested extract from the criminal record on the spot.

Sentences registered in the criminal record

The criminal record register contains the sentences pronounced by the Luxembourg criminal jurisdictions and may also contain sentences pronounced abroad. In accordance with the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS) and for the purposes of centralisation, the sentences pronounced in an EU Member State are automatically notified to the Member State in which the legal person has established its registered office.

The register is kept by the public prosecutor's office, in the form of an electronic file, under the responsibility of the State Public Prosecutor.

Criminal records contain, in particular:

• irrevocable sentences for correctional or criminal offences handed down in Luxembourg;
• irrevocable sentences for summary offences (peine de police), other than parking offences.

Irrevocable sentences for correctional or criminal offences handed down by foreign jurisdictions are recorded in the criminal record register, provided that:

• the convicted legal person has its effective registered office in Luxembourg;
• the sentence is notified pursuant to an international convention;
• the punishable act is deemed to be a correctional or criminal offence under Luxembourg law.

If a convicted person is rehabilitated (réhabilitation), the relevant entry is deleted from the criminal record within 5 to 20 years (depending on the length of the sentence). Rehabilitation puts an end to all incapacities and forfeitures that resulted from said conviction until then.

Rehabilitation is then established as of right, or granted by the Council Chamber of the Court of Appeal upon request.

Sentences handed down by foreign courts are deleted from the Luxembourg criminal record if the country of prosecution provides notification of the deletion of the convictions from the criminal record, or of rehabilitation.

Content of the different criminal records issued

The Criminal Records Department issues the following records.

Record no. 1

Content of record no. 1

Record no. 1 in the criminal records of a legal person shows all the sentences handed down in respect of said legal person.

Issuing record no. 1

Record no. 1 of a legal person is issued to the judicial authorities within the framework of a criminal procedure.

It will also be issued to the lawyer assisting or representing the legal person concerned as a defendant before a court, or, in the absence of a lawyer, to the legal representative of the legal person (e.g. the company director). In this case, the criminal record certificate is not issued by the Criminal Records Department, but by the secretariat of the jurisdiction concerned.

Record no. 2

Content of record no. 2

Record no. 2 in the criminal records register of a legal person shows all the correctional or criminal sentences handed down in respect of said legal person. The record will show the following sentences:

• fines (with the exception of suspended sentences);
• the confiscation of property belonging to the legal person;
• exclusion from participation in public procurement contracts; and
• dissolution of the legal person.

Issuing record no. 2

Record no. 2 is issued on request to state and communal administrations and to public legal persons, presented, within the framework of their statutory tasks, with an application from the legal person concerned, provided said legal person has given a written consent on paper or by electronic means with regard to the issue of the record.

Record no. 3

Content of record no. 3

Record no. 3 in the criminal records register of a legal person shows all the correctional or criminal sentences handed down in respect of said legal person.

These are the same sentences as those in record no. 2, except for sentencings to a fine of EUR 25,000 or less or to several fines whose total amount is EUR 25,000 or less.

Issuing record no. 3

With respect to legal persons, record no. 3 is issued:

• either to a person who is authorised to act and sign on behalf of the legal person concerned, and who can present a valid identity document and a recent extract from the Trade and Companies Register;
• or to a third party who can present a recent extract from the Trade and Companies Register, a power of attorney from a person who is authorised to act and sign on behalf of the legal person concerned and a copy of a valid identity document from the signatory of the power of attorney.

Record no. 3 is issued on request to state and communal administrations and to public legal persons, presented, within the framework of their statutory tasks, with an application from the natural or legal person concerned, provided said person has given his/her approval with regard to the issue of the record.

Issuing criminal records to a foreign authority

Extracts from the criminal record can be issued, under certain conditions, to the competent authorities in EU Member States or to the competent authorities in third countries within the framework of international conventions.

Forms / Online services

Who to contact