Code Penal Arts. 294-3 to 294-4, Child Sexual Abuse Material Including Realistic and AI-Generated Depictions
Code penal art. 294-3, 294-3-1 et 294-4 (Titre II, Chapitre Ier, Section VII, Crimes et delits envers l'enfant), art. 294-3 et 294-4 crees par la loi n. 1.344 du 26 decembre 2007 relative au renforcement de la repression des crimes et delits contre l'enfant, art. 294-3-1 cree par la loi n. 1.513 du 3 decembre 2021
A citation is an address, not a summary. The first part names the law; what follows narrows it to the exact section, article or paragraph.
In force since 28 December 2007.
An AI prohibited practices rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 6 September 2026.
What it requires
- Do not fix, record, produce, procure, transmit, offer, disseminate, import, export, possess, or knowingly access an image or representation of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct; the ban reaches a realistic, computer-generated or artificial-intelligence-generated depiction exactly as it reaches a photograph of a real minor, unless the depicted person is shown to have been at least eighteen years old when the image was made.
- As a telecommunications or electronic communications network operator or service provider, act to bar public access to such an image once you become aware of it through your professional activity, and make it available to the judicial authority.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Private right of actionNo
Criminal exposure note
Article 294-3: three to five years' imprisonment and the chiffre 3 fine (9,000 to 18,000 euros) for producing, fixing, recording, procuring or transmitting such an image with a view to dissemination, or for knowingly offering, disseminating, importing or exporting it; the same penalty for an attempt. Six months to two years and the chiffre 2 fine (2,250 to 9,000 euros) for knowingly possessing or knowingly accessing such an image. Five to ten years and the chiffre 4 fine (18,000 to 90,000 euros) where an electronic communications network was used to disseminate the image to an undetermined public. Article 294-4: one year's imprisonment and the chiffre 4 fine for a network operator or service provider that fails to bar public access to such an image, or to make it available to the judicial authority, once it becomes aware of the image through its professional activity.
Penalty structure
Article 294-3's tiers: 9,000 to 18,000 euros (chiffre 3) for producing, fixing, recording, procuring, transmitting, offering, disseminating, importing or exporting such an image; 2,250 to 9,000 euros (chiffre 2) for knowingly possessing or accessing one; 18,000 to 90,000 euros (chiffre 4) where the image was disseminated to an undetermined public over an electronic communications network. Article 294-4's fine for a network operator or service provider that fails to bar access is the chiffre 4 range, 18,000 to 90,000 euros.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- 6 September 2026
- Minimum
- 2,250
- Currency
- EUR
- Fixed cap
- 90,000
What it reaches
Obligation class
Prohibition, Reporting
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
Article 294-3 punishes, with three to five years' imprisonment and the Code penal article 26 chiffre 3 fine, fixing, recording, producing, procuring or transmitting the image or representation of a minor with a view to its dissemination where that image or representation is pornographic, and knowingly offering or disseminating, importing or exporting such an image by any means; attempt is punished identically.
Knowingly possessing such an image, or knowingly accessing one, is punished with six months to two years' imprisonment and the chiffre 2 fine. The penalty rises to five to ten years and the chiffre 4 fine where an electronic communications network was used to disseminate the image to an undetermined public.
The article applies equally to a pornographic image of a person whose physical appearance is that of a minor unless it is established that the person was at least eighteen years old on the day the image was fixed or recorded. It does not apply where the images were collected for the investigation or prosecution of a criminal offence.
The article's own definition of a pornographic image lists, as a third category alongside a real minor and a person appearing as a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct, a realistic image representing a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and it defines a realistic image as including, notably, an altered image of a natural person created in whole or in part by digital methods; the prohibition and every offence built on it therefore reach a computer-generated or artificial-intelligence-generated depiction of a minor exactly as they reach a photograph of a real child.
Article 294-3-1, inserted in 2021, extends the offences at Article 294-3 to an image or representation that is not pornographic but is of a nature to harm a minor's dignity.
Article 294-4 requires a telecommunications or electronic-communications network operator or service provider, or one of its agents, who becomes aware of an image or representation covered by Article 294-3 through its professional activity, to act to bar public access to it and to make it available to the judicial authority for the investigation, establishment and prosecution of criminal offences.
Failing to do so is punished by one year's imprisonment and the chiffre 4 fine, without prejudice to the penalties incurred by the perpetrators, co-perpetrators or accomplices of the underlying offence.
When LexLint raises it
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