Step-by-step procedure · 3 min read

Criminal record in Cameroon: the bulletin no. 3

When a foreign checklist asks for a “police clearance” from Cameroon, it means the bulletin n° 3 — the one extract of your criminal record you can obtain yourself. What the Criminal Procedure Code says about it follows.

By Talla Naoussi Arnold, translator — Master II in translation, ASTI, Buea · Updated 25 September 2026

What the bulletin no. 3 shows

It is issued only to the person whose record it is. It lists only custodial sentences not wiped out by amnesty or rehabilitation, plus every road traffic conviction (section 581). A clean record — or one whose convictions are not yet final — reads « néant ».

Bulletins no. 1 and no. 2 are fuller, and go only to administrative and judicial authorities.

A clean record reads « néant » — nil.

Where your record is kept

Which file holds your criminal record, and who signs the bulletin, by place of birth — sections 573 and 580 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Born…	Record kept at	Bulletin signed by
In Cameroon	The registry of the Court of First Instance for your place of birth (district file)	The State Counsel
Abroad, Cameroonian or not	The Ministry of Justice (central file)	The Minister of Justice or a representative
Place of birth unknown, or identity in doubt	The central file	The Minister of Justice or a representative

Your birthplace decides, not where you live: born in Kumba and living in Douala, your record is in Kumba.

What the Code leaves out — and my advice

Fees, waiting time, the documents to bring, whether you can apply online: none of it is in the Code, and I have not verified it elsewhere. Nor does the Code set a validity period — the office receiving your file decides how recent a bulletin must be.

Request it last, once every other document is ready. And check before paying for a translation: a bulletin in French goes into a Canadian file as it is. When a translation is required, it is on our police clearance translation page.

Official source

Consulted on 11 September 2026. Official instructions change: when they differ from this page, they prevail.

Cameroon Criminal Procedure Code, Law No. 2005/007 of 27 July 2005 (Official Gazette text, VERTIC copy, in French) — sections 573 (files), 580 (signature), 581 (the three bulletins)