Frequently asked questions

To receive an extract from the Criminal Records Database, you need to make an inquiry to the Criminal Records Database, based on which a notice from the database is issued.
It is possible to make the inquiry of the Criminal Records Database electronically via email, in the e-File environment or by regular mail on paper.

There are two 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 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 inquiry, we kindly ask you to add a copy of the document certifying the payment of 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:

• Application form to be completed electronically
• Application form to be completed on paper

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 email address indicated in the application within two business days. If the response to the inquiry 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 weeks.

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.

Usually a certified paper notice from the Criminal Records Database is necessary for submitting data to foreign countries that do not acknowledge Estonian digital signature. In that case, the certified paper notice from the Criminal Records Database should be legalised. 
You can read more about the process of legalising a public document on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

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 an inquiry on the requests to learn who has been interested in the corresponding data. 
It is most convenient to make an inquiry 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 bailiff. If the corresponding bailiff is not known to you, it is first required to contact the Estonian Chamber of Bailiffs and Trustees in Bankruptcy to obtain the data from the execution proceeding register, and then you are led to a specific bailiff. 

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 bailiff, since the Criminal Records Database does not update the data on expiry in the system. A bailiff 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 bailiff is not known, you need to first contact the Estonian Chamber of Bailiffs and Trustees in Bankruptcy to obtain the data from the execution proceeding register, and then you are led to a specific bailiff.

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 is archived as follows:

1. two years have passed since the termination of psychiatric coercive treatment;
2. two years have passed since the termination of applying the addiction treatment;
3. three years have passed since the performance of the financial punishment for a criminal offence;
4. three years have passed since the imprisonment for a specified term or the termination of probationary period determined in case of conditional release from the financial punishment;
5. three years have passed since the performance of community service;
6. five years have passed since the service of imprisonment below five years;
7. ten years have passed since the service of imprisonment from five to twenty years;
8. fifteen years have passed since the service of imprisonment over twenty years;
9. the performance of the decision has expired according to section 82 of the Penal Code;
10. the person is dead;
11. 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 years, and the data on the punishment imposed for a misdemeanour for 10 years. Thereafter, the data is deleted. The term for deletion is calculated from the date on which the data is entered in the archives. For example, the data on a traffic fine is deleted after 11 years of the payment of fine.

Read more about the archiving of the punishment data from section 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 section 201, section 223, section 224, section 226, subsections 227 (2)–(4), section 234, section 236 or section 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 an inquiry about yourself in public e-File. More detailed information about the options to request data is 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 is deleted from the register?”.