To receive an extract from the Criminal Records Database, you need to make a query to the Criminal Records Database, based on which a notice from the database is issued.
It is possible to make the query of the Criminal Records Database electronically via email, in the e-File environment or by regular mail on paper.
There are two (2) options to view the data entered in the Criminal Records Database:
To view data in the information system of the e-File:
Everyone can make inquiries of the Criminal Records Database about themselves or other persons in the public e-File. To this end, it is necessary to enter the e-File by means of ID-card or Mobile ID. An extract from the e-File is intended solely for access to criminal records, and it is not possible to obtain an official document from there.
To apply for the issue of a digitally signed or paper notice from the database:
To submit an official document to a third person about your punishment data, it is possible to apply for a signed notice from the database from the Criminal Records Database. To receive a signed notice from the database, it is necessary to send a previously completed application to the Criminal Records Database either by email to [email protected] or on paper to the following address: Lubja 4, 19081 Tallinn. In case of a paid query, we kindly ask you to add a copy of the document certifying the payment of the state fee to the application.
The application to be submitted should be signed on paper or digitally (the requirement arises from clause 15 (2) 6) of the Criminal Records Database Act), otherwise it cannot be processed.
Application forms:
There is no reception at the Centre of Registers and Information Systems, and the applications are not accepted there.
A digitally signed notice from the database arrives to the email address indicated in the application within two (2) business days*. If the response to the query is to be received by regular mail, the additional delivery time of the letter by Eesti Post AS (Omniva) should be taken into account. Usually, the letter arrives by post in a couple of days, but you should take into account that it may take up to two (2) weeks.
*At the moment, the deadlines for issuing notifications from the Criminal Records Database are longer than usual, we apologize for any inconvenience.
If you are required to submit an official document to a third party about your punishment data, please send an application to the Criminal Records Database for issuing signed or digitally signed data. In other cases, you can view your punishment data in the information system of public e-File.
The Criminal Records Database issues data only in Estonian. To have the document translated by a sworn translator and carry out the apostille formality, you are required to present the paper document that has been signed by the Criminal Records Database.
Contact details of sworn translators. Information about the apostille formality of the document.
The register of the inquiries submitted to the Criminal Records Database includes all inquiries, and everyone can make a query on the requests to learn who has been interested in the corresponding data.
It is most convenient to make a query on the requests in the e-File environment, where you can do it indefinitely and free of charge.
The data of the Criminal Records Database are reflected in the e-File, however, it is not possible to pay the fines through this environment.
For the payment of fines you need to contact the authority that has imposed the fine or the processing enforcement agent. If the corresponding enforcement agent is not known to you, it is first required to contact the Estonian Chamber of Enforcement Agents and Trustees in Bankruptcy to obtain the data from the execution proceeding register, and then you are led to a specific enforcement agent.
If your fine has expired, but there is no corresponding information in the Criminal Records Database, we kindly ask you to contact the authority that has imposed the fine or the processing enforcement agent, since the Criminal Records Database does not update data upon expiry in the system. An enforcement agent or a body conducting extra-judicial proceedings can apply the expiry of fine, and send the corresponding information to the Criminal Records Database. If the enforcement agent is not known, you need to first contact the Estonian Chamber of Enforcement Agents and Trustees in Bankruptcy to obtain the data from the execution proceeding register, and then you are led to a specific enforcement agent.
The punishment data concerning misdemeanours is transferred to the archives after a year has passed from the service of the punishment for the misdemeanour (e.g. from the service of arrest or the payment of fine).
The data of the punishment imposed for a criminal offence is transferred to the archives based on the punishment. If the person was an adult at the moment of committing a criminal offence, the data are archived as follows:
- two (2) years have passed since the termination of psychiatric coercive treatment;
- two (2) years have passed since the termination of applying the addiction treatment;
- three (3) years have passed since the performance of the financial punishment for a criminal offence;
- three (3) years have passed since the imprisonment for a specified term or the termination of probationary period determined in case of conditional release from a financial punishment;
- three (3) years have passed since the performance of community service;
- five (5) years have passed since the service of imprisonment of less than five (5) years;
- 10 (ten) years have passed since the service of imprisonment from five (5) to 20 (twenty) years;
- 15 (fifteen) years have passed since the service of imprisonment over 20 (twenty) years;
- the performance of the decision has expired according to § 82 of the Penal Code;
- the person is dead;
- the legal person has been terminated.
The data on the punishment imposed for a served criminal offence entered in the archives is visible in the archives for 50 (fifty) years, and the data on the punishment imposed for a misdemeanour for 10 (ten) years. Thereafter, the data are deleted. The term for deletion is calculated from the date on which the data are entered in the archives. For example, the data on a traffic fine is deleted after 11 (eleven) years of the payment of fine.
Read more about the archiving of the punishment data from § 24 of the Criminal Records Database Act
The data entered in the Criminal Records Database is transferred in the archives and deleted according to the terms established in the Criminal Records Database Act. For more details, please read the answer to the question concerning the deletion of the punishment from the register. In some cases, the archiving of the data depends on how quickly you have performed your obligations. For example, the faster you pay the fines or financial penalties imposed on you, the sooner the term for archiving the data arrives.
One of the conditions for issuing a provisional driving licence is the fact that the person has not been punished for a misdemeanour established in § 201, § 223, § 224, § 226, subsections 227 (2)–(4), § 234, § 236 or § 237, for a traffic offence established in Chapter 23 of the Penal Code or repeatedly punished for the misdemeanours established in Chapter 15, except for the violations provided in clause 3. If you want to know if you have any corresponding punishments, please make a query about yourself in public e-File. More detailed information about the options to request data are available in the first clause.
For information on the expiry of punishments, please see the answer to the question ‘How long does it take until the punishment data are deleted from the register?’.