Criminal Code, Production and Distribution of Child Pornography
Criminal Code, OG No. 37/1996, art. 193-a
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.
An AI prohibited practices rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 6 September 2026.
What it requires
- Do not produce, transmit, offer, or otherwise make available child pornography, including a realistic image depicting a minor, or an adult who looks like a minor, in an explicit sexual position or engaged in an explicit sexual act, whether or not a real child was involved in producing it.
- Do not acquire or possess such material.
- Committing this offense through a computer system or another mass-communication medium raises the minimum prison term to eight years.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Private right of actionNo
Criminal exposure note
Production for distribution, transmission, offering or making available: imprisonment of at least five years (art. 193-a(1)); acquisition or possession: imprisonment of five to eight years (art. 193-a(2)); either offense committed through a computer system or another mass-communication medium: imprisonment of at least eight years (art. 193-a(3)); a legal person is punished with a fine (art. 193-a(4)).
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 122(24) defines child pornography, for the whole Criminal Code, as pornographic material that visually depicts explicit sexual acts with a minor or with an adult who looks like a minor, or that depicts a minor or an adult who looks like a minor in an explicit sexual position, and separately reaches realistic images depicting the same acts or positions, whether or not an actual minor was involved in producing them.
Article 193-a(1) punishes producing child pornography for the purpose of distributing it, or transmitting, offering or otherwise making it available, with imprisonment of at least five years; paragraph (2) punishes acquiring or possessing it with imprisonment of five to eight years; paragraph (3) raises the minimum to eight years where the offense is committed through a computer system or another mass-communication medium; paragraph (4) extends liability to a legal person, punishable by a fine.
Because the definition's realistic-image branch does not require a real child to have been depicted, an image an AI system generates that realistically depicts a minor, or a person who looks like a minor, in an explicit sexual act or position falls within it on the same terms as a photograph.
The consolidated text lists the many Official Gazette issues that have amended the Criminal Code as a whole without attributing this specific article to one of them, so no commencement date for this provision is confirmed here.
When LexLint raises it
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