Displaying a photo in the criminal records database helps employers, a child's legal representative, and the Social Insurance Board ensure that the query result concerns the correct person. The change is important, for example, when a parent hires a private tutor for a child and finds the tutor's personal identification code from public sources. A photo also helps identify a person if a job applicant states or writes their personal identification code but does not present an identity document.

The restriction on working with children applies to a person who has committed a contact sexual offense against a child, such as rape.

The aim of the amendment is to protect children better than before from sexual and other dangerous offenders. Currently, employers must check at least once a year in the criminal records database whether a person working with children has a restriction on working with children.

"The easier and more convenient it is to fulfill such an obligation, the more likely employers are to actually do it," the draft states.

Checks will become automatic and more frequent

In the future, an employer will not have to enter the name and personal identification code of a person working with children into the criminal records database once a year. Instead, the system will automatically check people working with children once a month. For this, the automatic check will be linked to the employment register, and the employer must indicate which employees come into direct contact with children.

The employer will receive the result of the check as a simple yes‑or‑no answer. If an employee has a restriction on working with children, the Social Insurance Board will also be notified and will check whether the employer has complied with the restriction.

A person working with a child is someone who, due to their job or activity, comes into direct contact with a child. This means communicating with the child, guiding, teaching, caring for, counseling, or dealing with the child while providing a service.

Such people include, for example, teachers, coaches, kindergarten staff, and others whose duties require direct contact with children. A person may also be considered to be working with children if they work in an institution not intended solely for children but still come into direct contact with children due to their job.

At the same time, not everyone who encounters children is considered to be working with children. For example, a shop assistant, customer service worker, or a regular city bus driver is generally not considered a person working with children, because their job does not require direct and continuous interaction with children.

It is different, for example, for a school bus or excursion bus driver who transports a specific group of children and comes into more direct contact with them due to their job. The final assessment is made by the employer, who must consider the person's duties and their nature.

The draft notes that in practice there have been situations where people with a restriction on working with children have ended up working as school janitors or bus drivers.

Automatic checks can only cover people working in positions where they come into direct contact with children. Therefore, a person must be removed from the list of people to be checked as soon as they stop performing such work.

The records database will not become public

The ministry refers in the draft to studies showing that public sex‑offender registries have not had a positive impact on reducing repeat offenses. Some studies do indicate that a public registry may reduce the risk of first‑time offenses. According to the ministry, adding photos may help people recognize a dangerous individual and warn their close ones.

However, adding photos does not make the registry public. Queries can still be made only by persons specified in the law: employers, institutions issuing activity licenses for working with children, and a child's legal representatives.

The planned date for the law to enter into force is 1 June 2030.

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