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Law / Netherlands

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

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

In force since .

An AI prohibited practices rule binding public and private bodies.

Obligation class
Prohibition
Audit expectation
none
Setting the rule reaches
General

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.

These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text. Also read by: Openbaar Ministerie (College van procureurs-generaal) (guidance, recorded ); Hoge Raad , ECLI:NL:HR:2013:BY9719 (11/04168), on 'schijnbaar betrokken' in former art. 240b Sr (recorded ).

In the frameworks

NIST AI RMF
  • MAP 3.3Targeted application scope is specified and documented based on the system’s capability, established context, and AI system categorization.
NIST AI 600-1
MIT mitigations Draft
  • 1.5Safety Decision Frameworks
  • 3.3Access Management
FINOS AIGF
ETSI EN 304 223
  • 5.1.2-1Business need and security risks written down and assessed before deciding to build an AI system.
  • 5.1.4-5End-users told which uses of the system are prohibited.

Our reading of where this law's duties sit in each framework. It never says that running a control meets the law. How we read a framework against the law

Identifiers refer to ETSI EN 304 223 V2.1.1 (2025-12), © ETSI 2025, all rights reserved. ETSI owns the standard; no ETSI text (titles or sentences) is reproduced here. The standard is free to download from ETSI.

If you get it wrong

Criminal exposureYes

Criminal exposure note

Imprisonment of up to six years or a fine of the fifth category (art. 252). The maximum prison term may be raised by three years where the offender makes an occupation or habit of committing the offense (art. 254, first paragraph, under c).

Who enforces it

Settledness

The directive (in force ) sets the criteria for when a representation is of a sexual nature or has an unmistakably sexual purpose; it does not address computer-generated images. The Hoge Raad decision construes former art. 240b, whose 'schijnbaar betrokken' wording art. 252 keeps.

As of
Case link
https://uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl/details?id=ECLI:NL:HR:2013:BY9719
Guidance link
https://www.om.nl/onderwerpen/b/beleidsregels/aanwijzingen/jeugd---gezin---zeden/aanwijzing-kinderpornografie-2024a006
Case citation
Hoge Raad , ECLI:NL:HR:2013:BY9719 (11/04168), on 'schijnbaar betrokken' in former art. 240b Sr
Guidance body
Openbaar Ministerie (College van procureurs-generaal)
Open questions
  • Does 'kennelijk de leeftijd van achttien jaren nog niet heeft bereikt' in art. 252 reach a wholly computer-generated image that can be told apart from a real photograph, given that the Hoge Raad read 'schijnbaar betrokken' in former art. 240b to cover a realistic image of a non-existent child only when it cannot be distinguished from a real one, and art. 252 keeps the words 'betrokken of schijnbaar is betrokken'?
  • Does a computer-generated image of an apparent minor who is clothed or in an ordinary pose count as a 'visuele weergave van seksuele aard of met een onmiskenbaar seksuele strekking', when the Openbaar Ministerie's directive asks whether the way the image came about aims to arouse sexual stimulation?

What it makes you log

Logging duty

Article 252 is a criminal prohibition on distributing, offering, publicly displaying, producing, importing, exporting, acquiring, possessing or accessing a sexual image of a person who apparently has not yet reached eighteen, whether or not that person is real. It states no duty to create, keep or produce a log or record of any kind.

Kind
None
As of

What this law does

Drafted with AI

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

Research summary

Legal information, not legal advice. This is LexLint's own research summary of a public legal source, and it creates no attorney-client relationship. For decisions that matter, consult qualified counsel in the relevant jurisdiction. About LexLint

Whoever distributes, offers, publicly displays, produces, imports, transships, exports, acquires, possesses, or accesses a visual representation of a sexual nature, or with an unmistakably sexual character, 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 .

When LexLint raises it

When your app profile says your app generates images with AI, generates video with AI or publishes adult content.

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Page updated .