Wetboek van Strafrecht, art. 252, Sexual Imagery of an Apparent Minor (Virtual Child Sexual Abuse Material)

Wetboek van Strafrecht, art. 252 (until 1 July 2024: art. 240b) (BWBR0001854)

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 1 July 2024.

An AI prohibited practices rule binding public and private bodies.

As of 6 September 2026.

What it requires

Do not produce, distribute, offer, publicly display, import, export, acquire, or possess a sexual image of a person who apparently has not yet reached the age of eighteen, whether or not that person is real; a computer-generated or synthetic depiction is reached on the same terms as a real one.

If you get it wrong

Criminal exposureYes

Criminal exposure note

Imprisonment of up to six years or a fine of the fifth category; up to eight years for a person who makes an occupation or habit of the offense (art. 252, second paragraph, applicable to the predecessor art. 240b's equivalent structure).

What this law does

Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.

Whoever distributes, offers, publicly displays, produces, imports, transships, exports, acquires, possesses, or accesses a visual representation of a sexual act involving a person who apparently has not yet reached the age of eighteen, whether or not that person is actually involved, is punished with imprisonment of up to six years or a fine of the fifth category.

The provision does not require the depicted minor to be real, so it reaches a computer-generated or otherwise synthetic depiction on its own terms. Its predecessor, art. 240b, carried the same apparent-involvement wording with a four-year maximum before the Wet seksuele misdrijven renumbered and raised the penalty for the current text, effective 1 July 2024.

When LexLint raises it

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publishes_adult_content

Read the law

wetten.overheid.nl, consolidated text of the Wetboek van Strafrecht

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