Criminal records information is exchanged in cooperation between EU countries

• when a private person or organiser of volunteer activities requests an extract from the criminal record, and
• when an authority requests an extract from the criminal record for the processing of a criminal matter or for a precursor permit matter.

The exchange of information is bilateral and each Member State has its own criminal records. Bilateral exchange of information means that in addition to requesting information from the criminal record, ORK also, upon request, discloses register data from the criminal and fine register to other EU Member States.

Take into account the impact on the processing time of the application

The processing time of the application is extended when criminal record information are requested from another Member State. A Member State has 10 or 20 working days to respond to a request from another country. The response received will be sent to the client as an attachment to the Finnish criminal record extract.

A response from another Member State may not always be received within the time limit. In this case, ORK will provide the client with an extract from the Finnish criminal record and information that no response was received.

From 2025 onwards, the exchange of information also applies to third country nationals

In 2025, a new EU information system called ECRIS-TCN will be introduced in all Member States. The system enables the targeting of requests concerning third country nationals to Member States with conviction data.

• who is not a national of an EU Member State,
• who is without nationality, or
• whose nationality is unknown.

In the past, the entire criminal history of a third-country national could only be investigated by sending a request to each Member State separately.

LRC acts as the national central authority of the ECRIS-TCN system and is responsible for its national system development. 

The system changes are funded by the European Commission.

Further information:

Act on the Storage of Information Extracted from the Criminal Records and on the Disclosure of Such Information between Finland and Other Member States of the European Union

Act on the application of the provisions of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom on extradition and exchange of information extracted from criminal records (in Finnish)

Council Framework Decision 2009/315/JHA on the organisation and content of the exchange of information extracted from the criminal record between Member States

EU-LISA: European Union Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice.