Overview
- The 345-page overhaul, passed in 2022, has taken effect at the start of 2026 and replaces parts of the Dutch colonial-era penal code.
- Sex outside marriage is now punishable by up to one year in prison and cohabitation by up to six months, with adultery cases prosecutable only on complaints by a spouse, parent, or child.
- Penalties for insulting the president are reinstated with possible sentences of up to three years, and such cases require a complaint from the officeholder.
- Blasphemy provisions are expanded with sentences of up to five years, and links to Marxist-Leninist groups or spreading communist ideology can draw up to ten and four years respectively.
- The law applies to citizens and foreign visitors, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch warn of selective enforcement, a proposed ban on same-sex consensual sex was dropped, and the minimum corruption sentence is reduced to two years.