Registration in the legal services register of persons wishing to provide debt collection services

If you wish to provide debt collection services on a commercial basis, you must register this activity in the legal services register.

You can be registered if you are personally suitable and reliable to carry out the activity and also have special expertise and can prove this accordingly. Important criteria for the required reliability are previous experience (in particular any criminal offenses) and financial circumstances.

Registration can be made subject to conditions or linked to requirements. Conditions can be imposed or changed at any time. In the area of debt collection services, a requirement may be imposed to forward third-party funds immediately to a person authorized to receive them or to pay them into a separate account. Legal services that are ancillary to another activity (e.g. collection of customer receivables assigned to a garage on account of performance) are exempt from licensing. Registration in the legal services register is not required for these services.

Requirements

• Personal suitability and reliability.
• Theoretical and practical expertise in the area or sub-area of Section 10 of the Legal Services Act (RDG) in which the legal services are to be provided.
• Professional liability insurance.
• Legal entities and companies without legal personality must appoint at least one natural person who meets all the necessary requirements (qualified person). The qualified person must be permanently employed by the company, be independent of instructions and authorized to issue instructions in all matters relating to the company's legal services and be authorized to represent the company externally.

What documents do I need?

• The following documents are required for the registration of natural persons:
  
  1. A completed application form. This can be found on the federal and state justice portal (rechtsdienstleistungsregister.de).
  2. A summary of the professional training and previous professional practice of the person to be registered.
  3. Documents proving the theoretical and practical expertise of the person to be registered.
  4. A certificate of good conduct for submission to the authorities in accordance with Section 30 (5) of the Federal Central Register Act (document type 0) (Please apply for this from the competent authority. The certificate of good conduct will then be sent directly to the Bremen District Court).
  5. Proof of professional indemnity insurance for the person to be registered (can be submitted later upon separate request).
  6. Information from the Central Trade Register for submission to the authorities in accordance with Section 150 (5) of the Trade Regulation Act.
  7. A description of the content of the intended activities (in particular information on the areas of law in which the debt collection activity is to be performed and whether and, if so, which other activities are to be performed as ancillary services)