EU Assignment Checklist: Belgium’s Good Conduct Certificate

Key takeaway: Prepare identity, qualification, experience and criminal-record evidence against the receiving institution’s written checklist. For a Belgian certificate of good conduct, confirm the required model and submission window before applying.

Model 595 is Belgium’s basic criminal-record extract. It is not a substitute for Model 596-1 or Model 596-2 when the receiving institution requires one of those formats. Ordering a certificate before checking its purpose can leave you with a document that does not meet the request.

Build the pack around the assignment’s written requirements, not a generic list of “EU documents”. Establish what the institution or staffing intermediary needs, then collect the evidence in the required format. That means checking the issuing country, certificate model, document age, translation requirements and delivery method before submission.

Keep the contractual context clear. The Europol, European Central Bank (ECB) and European Commission examples below concern their respective recruitment procedures, except where ECB security-clearance requirements are specifically identified. They help identify important checks, but staff recruitment requirements do not automatically apply to every external consultant.

1. Get the document request before ordering the certificate

Use the institution’s or staffing intermediary’s written request as your working checklist. Before applying for a criminal-record document, work through these four checks and ask the recipient to clarify anything its instructions leave open:

1. Confirm the issuing country. Does this request specify your country of nationality, your country of residence or another country? Use the country required for this procedure rather than assuming that the assignment’s location determines the issuer.
2. Confirm the Belgian model, if a Belgian extract is requested. Establish whether the purpose calls for Model 595, 596-1 or 596-2, and whether the receiving organisation needs to complete a purpose form. Give that purpose to the issuing municipality.
3. Confirm the institution’s document-age window. Ask how old the certificate may be at submission and whether a separate deadline applies before contract signature or the start date. If the request gives no age limit, seek clarification rather than borrowing another institution’s limit.
4. Confirm whether originals must arrive by post. Establish whether an upload is sufficient, whether an original is also required, and where and when it must arrive under this request.

Check language requirements alongside these steps: which documents need translation, and which may be supplied in their original language? An acceptable scan does not replace a requested original, and a recently issued certificate does not correct the wrong model or issuing country. If the request says only “certificate of good conduct”, obtain the missing details in writing rather than selecting a Belgian model by guesswork.

2. Request the correct Belgian certificate of good conduct

In Belgium, the document commonly called a certificate of good conduct or police clearance in English is a criminal-record extract: Extrait du casier judiciaire in French or Uittreksel uit het strafregister in Dutch. The required format depends on its stated purpose.

Belgian model	Purpose	What to check for your assignment
595	The basic extract, used when Model 596-1 or 596-2 is not specifically required.	Do not assume it is sufficient merely because the request uses the general term “good conduct”.
596-1	Regulated occupations or specified authorisations, including activities such as private detective work or taxi driving.	Check whether the stated activity or authorisation requires this model and whether a purpose form is needed.
596-2	Specified activities involving minors, including education, youth assistance, child protection and supervision.	Identify the actual activity rather than selecting a model solely from the institution’s name.

The Belgian authority determines the format from the stated purpose. Where that purpose requires the standard request form, the receiving employer, organisation or association should complete it. Obtain that input before making the application.

Use your municipality’s application route

Belgium’s Justice Ministry directs applicants to their municipality. For a Belgian resident, the practical starting point is the municipality where they are registered or reside—not an assumed national online application portal.

For people living in the City of Brussels, applications can be made through MyBXL, at the Administrative Centre or at specified liaison offices. Other Belgian municipalities may use different platforms, fees and processing arrangements.

• Identity evidence: the City of Brussels requires an identity document.
• Third-party applications: the representative needs a mandate and a copy of the concerned person’s identity document.
• Delivery through a representative: the Brussels mandate authorises the request only; the extract is posted to the concerned person’s residence.
• Fees: check the issuing municipality’s current fee instructions rather than assuming that another municipality’s arrangements apply.

If you use a representative under the City of Brussels procedure, account for postal delivery. Authorising someone to apply does not mean they can collect the certificate on your behalf.

3. Plan around submission age and original-document delivery

A submission-age limit is not a universal expiry date. Europol requires its certificate of good conduct before employment-contract signature and specifies that it must be no more than three months old at submission. Its guidance also requires issuance by the relevant authority in the candidate’s country of nationality. Those conditions belong to that recruitment procedure; do not apply them automatically to every EU assignment.

The ECB’s guidance sets a different certificate-age limit: no more than two months old on the date of submission for people offered an ECB employment contract and non-staff members subject to its security-clearance rules. Its pre-start instructions request the original criminal-record certificate by post. For short-term employees, its security guidance requires the original certificate and related forms to reach the Security Division at least two weeks before the employment start date.

The ECB also states that the criminal-record certificate does not need translation into English. That exemption concerns this document in the ECB procedure; it does not extend automatically to diplomas, experience evidence or another institution’s requirements.

Which numbers apply where

Example	Age or timing rule	Issuing, format or delivery scope
Europol recruitment	No older than three months at submission; provide before employment-contract signature.	Issued by the relevant authority in the candidate’s country of nationality.
ECB	No older than two months at submission for the categories described above. For short-term employees, originals and related forms must reach Security at least two weeks before the start date.	Original certificate by post under the relevant instructions; no English translation required for that certificate.
City of Brussels	Use the municipality’s current processing instructions for the stated purpose; the Europol and ECB age limits are not municipal processing times.	MyBXL or the specified counter routes for City of Brussels residents. Under its representative procedure, the extract is posted to the concerned person’s residence.

These examples do not create a single Belgian validity period, delivery deadline or format rule. Other institutions and municipalities may differ, and a recipient’s certificate-age limit is separate from the issuing municipality’s processing time.

Work backwards from the deadline in your receiving request. Obtain the extract close enough to submission to meet that request’s age limit, while leaving room for issuance and any required postal delivery. Ordering it far in advance can be as problematic as leaving it until the last moment.

For a City of Brussels application, check the processing instructions for the document’s stated use rather than assuming that every application has the same turnaround. Municipal issuance time alone does not account for postal delivery or the recipient’s handling of the document.

4. Assemble identity, education and experience evidence

The criminal-record extract is only one part of the pack. The other documents must substantiate your identity and the qualifications and experience relied on in the application.

Identity: keep the readable copy and original available

Prepare a readable copy of a valid passport or national identity card where requested. The ECB’s pre-start checklist requests this copy and requires the original identity document to be shown on the first working day. Where your assignment has the same requirement, uploading the copy completes only the first part of the check.

Education: prove the qualification used for eligibility

Supply the diploma or certificate supporting the qualification claimed against the vacancy requirement. A CV entry naming a degree does not replace the qualification document. The European Commission requires contract staff to provide evidence of eligibility before recruitment; the ECB specifically requests the highest qualification in its original language.

Do not substitute an unrelated qualification for the one on which eligibility depends. If the institution asks for the highest qualification as well as evidence of a particular required qualification, make sure the pack addresses both requests.

Experience: document dates and duties, not just job titles

Prepare employment certificates, employer attestations, contracts or reference letters that establish the experience claimed. To make that experience assessable, the evidence should identify:

• The employer and job title.
• The start and end dates and duration of employment.
• The duties performed and, where relevant, the level of responsibility.

A CV alone may not prove duration or responsibilities. If a contract establishes the dates but does not describe the work, an employer certificate or reference letter can address that gap. The objective is to make the claimed experience assessable, not simply to accumulate documents.

Retain the originals after submission. The ECB states that original employment evidence may be requested during the contract period.

5. Use the right equivalents from another EU Member State

A consultant from another Member State should provide the national documents that meet the receiving institution’s request. Do not obtain a Belgian certificate solely because the assignment is based in Brussels.

• Criminal-record evidence: obtain the national certificate from the competent authority in the country specified by the institution. Europol’s country-of-nationality instruction illustrates why residence alone is not always the deciding factor.
• Education evidence: provide the diploma and any recognition or equivalence decision the institution requires. The Commission accepts qualifications issued by EU Member State authorities or recognised as equivalent by those authorities.
• A qualification issued outside the EU: check the recognition requirement even if you hold EU nationality. EU contract-staff selection rules can accept such qualifications where at least one Member State has recognised them. Supporting evidence may include a ministry equivalence decision, a competent education authority statement or a recognition document from the relevant national academic-recognition centre, depending on the procedure.
• Experience evidence: use employer certificates or reference letters establishing the same core facts: employer, role, dates, duration and relevant responsibilities.

Check language requirements document by document. An institution’s acceptance of an untranslated criminal-record certificate does not establish that it will accept an untranslated diploma or employer reference.

Resolve these gaps before submission

Use a requirement-to-evidence check: place each requested item beside the document that satisfies it, then check its content, date and delivery method. This exposes gaps that a folder full of scans can conceal.

• The request names no Belgian model: obtain the required purpose and format from the institution or intermediary before applying. A generic Model 595 is not a safe substitute for a specified model.
• The extract will be too old at submission: arrange a replacement against the receiving institution’s actual submission date and age limit. Do not rely on a general claim that Belgian certificates are “valid for three months”.
• An experience letter gives only a title: obtain evidence of dates and relevant duties so the institution can assess the period and nature of the work.
• A non-EU diploma lacks required recognition: obtain the applicable recognition evidence rather than treating nationality as a substitute for qualification recognition.
• Everything is uploaded, but an original is requested: complete the separate postal or in-person requirement. The ECB’s recruitment portal does not replace its stated requirements for originals.

Finally, check for institution-specific additions. Depending on the procedure, the pack may include security declarations, privacy forms, medical-fitness evidence, banking or legal-entity information, birth or civil-status documents, or proof of nationality. Supply these where requested rather than treating every possible item as mandatory.

What a submission-ready pack looks like

A submission-ready pack lets the recipient match each requirement to readable evidence: the correct identity document, the relevant qualification, assessable employment history and the requested criminal-record certificate from the correct authority. The certificate meets that institution’s stated submission window, with delivery arrangements for any required originals.

Keep security clearance and the building-access badge as separate workstreams; supplying the document pack does not complete either process. The finish line is not “all files uploaded”, but every requested item supplied in the required form, with original-document and first-day checks still accounted for.