57 Morten Engberg Head of 4th Division Use of criminal record certificates in connection with appointments Every year, thousands of jobs in the public sector are advertised. On each occasion, those responsible for the appointment process have to assess whether to request a criminal record certificate for the applicant. They also have to know what to do if an applicant’s criminal record certificate shows that he or she has a previous criminal conviction. This is not an easy exercise: the individual nursery manager, head nurse, etc. must be familiar with a variety of legal provisions. In 2011, the Ombudsman considered two cases concerning the use of criminal record certificates in connection with appointments in the public administration. This provided an opportunity to consider the legal problems arising in such cases and how they are best solved. One case concerned a doctor who was appointed to a position at a hospital. Soon after his appointment, he was summarily dismissed because the management discovered that he had previously received a 12-month unconditional prison sentence for sexual abuse of a child (Annual Report of the Parliamentary Ombudsman, 2011, Case No. 2011 20-3). The Ombudsman took up the other case on his own initiative on the basis of a newspaper article. The article concerned a man who had applied for various jobs with a local authority, among other things as a substitute teacher. According to the article, the man’s applications had been rejected because he had a criminal record (Annual Report of the Parliamentary Ombudsman, 2011, Case No. 2011 20-4). Three types of criminal record certificates The information in a criminal record certificate is derived from the criminal register of the National Commission of the Danish Police. Here all criminal