National Criminal Register (Poland)

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National Criminal Register (Polish: Krajowy Rejestr Karny) is an official database of criminal convictions and other law enforcement data maintained by the Polish Ministry of Justice.

History and legal basis[edit]

The National Criminal Register was established on 22 June 2001 by the Act of 24 May 2000 on National Criminal Register[1] and replaced the previously existing Central Register of Convicts (Polish: Centralny Rejestr Skazanych) and Central Register of Juvenile Offenders (Polish: Centralny Rejestr Nieletnich).[2][3]

In early 2022, the Ministry of Justice announced a bill to reform the National Criminal Register by allowing some official notices and documents to be shared between authorities by digital means, and hence improving its reliability and currentness.[4] Moreover, the information in the Register is to be linked to the PESEL Register. The proposed changes are aimed at creating a new computer system labelled "KRK 2.0".[5]

Data processed and stored[edit]

The following information is stored in the National Criminal Register:[6]

  • data about convictions for criminal offences and tax offences,
  • data about persons who received a conditional discharge for a criminal offence or a tax offence,
  • data about persons who received a conditional discharge for a criminal offence or a tax offence under amnesty schemes,
  • data about Polish citizens convicted by foreign courts,
  • data about persons who are subject to court-imposed preventive measures (bail) in cases of criminal or tax offences,
  • data about juvenile offenders who were subject to court-imposed educational, corrective or educational-medical measures or were punished under the article 13 or the article 19 of the Act of 26 October 1982 on the procedure for juvenile offenders,
  • data about persons who were convicted for a petty (minor) offence and were given a punishment of imprisonment for that offence,
  • data about persons who are wanted on an outstanding arrest warrant,
  • data about persons who are detained pending trial,
  • data about juvenile offenders detained in a juvenile shelter.

Data regarding fixed penalty notices (Polish: mandat karny) issued and convictions for petty (minor) offences, like traffic violations, are not stored in the Register, unless a custodial sentence was imposed.[6]

Accessing data[edit]

The Register is not public. Access to data is limited to authorities (Policja, prosecutor offices (Polish: prokuratura), courts, Foreign Intelligence Agency, Internal Security Agency, Border Guard, Central Anticorruption Bureau, State Protection Service, Military Counterintelligence Service, Military Intelligence Service),[7] data subjects, and, in limited cases, data subjects' employers (when a statue requires an employee to have no criminal record).[8]

As of 2019, data in the Register are accessed as often as 3 million times a year, with 80 per cent of all access requests coming from relevant state authorities.[9]

Removal of data[edit]

Data about convictions are automatically removed when they are considered "spent" under the Polish criminal law. Information about conditional discharges is removed if no further offence is committed within a stated probation period, or when the criminal proceedings resume following breach of the conditions of the discharge. Data about court-imposed preventive measures are removed once they expire. Information is also removed on the event of data subject's death.[10]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Ustawa z dnia 24 maja 2000 r. o Krajowym Rejestrze Karnym". isap.sejm.gov.pl (in Polish). Archived from the original on 2022-06-18. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  2. ^ "Kilkanaście projektów w kilka godzin - Archiwum Rzeczpospolitej". archiwum.rp.pl (in Polish). Archived from the original on 2022-09-27. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  3. ^ "Wszystko co nowe budzi wątpliwości - Archiwum Rzeczpospolitej". archiwum.rp.pl (in Polish). Archived from the original on 2022-09-27. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  4. ^ Agata Łukasiewicz. "Rejestr karny będzie sprawniejszy". Rzeczpospolita (in Polish). Archived from the original on 2021-11-29. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  5. ^ "Projekt: Poprawa jakości danych gromadzonych w Krajowym Rejestrze Karnym". www.gazetaprawna.pl (in Polish). 2021-11-09. Archived from the original on 2022-09-27. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  6. ^ a b "Jakie dane są gromadzone w Krajowym Rejestrze Karnym i jak się je usuwa?". www.infor.pl (in Polish). Archived from the original on 2021-04-27. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  7. ^ Patrycja Rojek-Socha (2021-03-04). "Służby specjalne częściej zajrzą do Krajowego Rejestru Karnego". Prawo.pl (in Polish). Archived from the original on 2021-04-11. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  8. ^ Ewa Łukasik. "Kiedy pracodawca może wymagać udokumentowania niekaralności przez kandydatów do pracy i pracowników". kadry.infor.pl (in Polish). Archived from the original on 2021-11-19. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  9. ^ Piotr Szymaniak (2019-07-09). "Krajowy Rejestr Karny się zapycha? Będzie nowy e-system". forsal.pl (in Polish). Archived from the original on 2021-08-02. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  10. ^ Daniel Kwiatkowski. "Obowiązek usunięcia z rejestrów wpisu o zatartym skazaniu". palestra.pl (in Polish). Archived from the original on 2020-01-02. Retrieved 2022-09-27.