The ordinary age of sexual consent is 15 in Denmark. Greenland and the Faroe Islands also have under-15 sexual-offence provisions, but use separate criminal laws. Reaching 15 does not remove rules about consent, exploitation, entrusted education or care, payment or sexual images. Danish Criminal Code, §§216 and 222–225; Greenland Criminal Code, §§77–81; Faroese Criminal Code, §§216 and 222–225.
A table showing one number cannot explain how a youth case is handled or which law applies in a particular part of the Kingdom. This guide distinguishes the offence itself from a decision to waive prosecution, then compares the territorial frameworks and their image rules.
In Denmark, 15 is the ordinary threshold
Section 222 of the Danish Criminal Code addresses intercourse with a child below 15, unless the conduct falls within §216(2). Section 225 extends the relevant provisions to other sexual conduct, including specified situations where a person causes the other person to perform sexual acts on themselves. Informal descriptions of an activity do not replace its legal classification. §§222 and 225.
Section 216(2) classifies intercourse with a child below 12 as rape. It also covers an actor who has reached 22 and has intercourse with a child below 15. This does not make intercourse with a child below 15 permissible when the actor is younger than 22: §222 remains relevant. Non-consensual conduct must additionally be assessed under §216(1). §216; Director of Public Prosecutions guidance, sections 4.1.4 and 4.2.
Criminal responsibility is a separate issue. Section 15 says acts committed by children below 15 are not punished. That provision concerns the actor’s criminal responsibility; it does not turn harmful conduct into an unrestricted right or remove protection for the other child. §15.
A prosecution waiver is different from an age-gap permission
Section 222 does not set out a fixed numerical close-in-age exemption. Denmark instead has a specific prosecution-waiver provision for certain cases under §222(1), including its application through §225. The current instrument is Executive Order 324 of 27 March 2025, effective from 1 April 2025. Order 324/2025, §§1 and 3.
Under §1(1)(3), the police director may waive prosecution when the circumstances support it. The assessment considers the parties’ ages, development and age difference; the relationship must have been entirely voluntary and otherwise sufficiently equal. The provision excludes this waiver if the younger person is below 12 or the suspect has reached 22. These outer limits do not mean every relationship within them qualifies.
There is no universal “two-year rule” or “five-year rule” in this provision. For a hypothetical case involving a 14-year-old and a slightly older adolescent, an age calculation alone cannot establish the prosecution outcome. Voluntariness, development, equality and the circumstances still require assessment. The waiver does not rewrite §222’s underlying age threshold or excuse another offence.
The 2026 prosecutor guidance discusses voluntary, sufficiently equal youth cases, but includes references to earlier orders. The live official record marks the 2018 order as historical; the 2025 order expressly repeals it. This guide therefore uses the current order’s conditions rather than treating an older citation in the guidance as the operative regulation. Prosecutor guidance, section 5.4; current order.
Education, exploitation and payment remain relevant below 18
Section 223(1) protects a person below 18 who is the actor’s stepchild or foster child, or is entrusted to the actor for teaching or upbringing. It also covers the specified indecent conduct in those relationships. Paragraph 2 separately addresses gross abuse of superiority based on age and experience to seduce a person below 18 into intercourse. The legal test is more specific than merely asking whether one person is older. §223.
A hypothetical relationship involving a 16-year-old and someone entrusted with their education therefore needs a different analysis from a relationship between independent peers. The ordinary age threshold does not override the entrusted relationship. Section 220 separately regulates gross abuse of employment, financial, treatment or care dependency and specified abuse by religious leaders; §219 addresses particular institutional relationships. §§219–220 and 223.
Section 224 regulates both facilitating a person below 18 having intercourse with a customer for payment or a promise of payment, and the customer’s conduct. Section 225 extends the relevant provisions to other covered sexual conduct. Someone’s apparent agreement does not displace the payment-related offence. Family relationships also require a separate check: §210 covers specified direct-line and sibling relationships. §§210 and 224–225.
Consent and grooming require their own assessment
Section 216(1) addresses intercourse with a person who has not consented. The consent-based formulation introduced by Law 2208/2020 took effect on 1 January 2021. The person’s age and their actual agreement are separate legal questions; satisfying an age threshold does not establish consent. §216; Law 2208/2020, §§1–2.
Current law also includes §217, concerning intercourse without a preventive measure against sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancy where its use was a condition of participation. An assumption about the agreed circumstances can therefore miss a separate statutory issue. §217.
Section 231 addresses building a relationship with someone below 18 systematically or through manipulation, while exploiting superiority based on age and experience, with intent to subject that person to a sexual offence. It is not confined to a completed physical encounter. Equally, the provision should not be described as making every conversation between people of different ages a grooming offence: its specified elements matter. §231.
Greenland and the Faroe Islands use their own codes
| Jurisdiction | Under-15 provision | Further protection |
|---|---|---|
| Denmark | §222, read with §216(2) | §223: specified relationships and gross abuse of age or experience superiority below 18 |
| Greenland | §79, read with §77(2) | §80: specified exploitation and entrusted relationships below 18 |
| Faroe Islands | §222, read with §216(2) | §223: entrusted relationships and gross abuse of age or experience superiority below 18 |
Greenland
Greenland’s §79 covers intercourse or other sexual relations with a child below 15 where the actor knew the age or was negligent about it, unless §77(2) applies. Section 77(2) covers a child below 12 and an actor aged 22 or above with a child below 15. Section 77(1) separately regulates non-consensual conduct. Greenland Criminal Code, §§77 and 79.
Section 80 addresses gross abuse of superiority based on age and experience involving someone below 18, and separately the specified stepchild, foster-child, education and upbringing relationships. Section 81 concerns payment-related conduct involving a person below 18; §82a addresses grooming. These are Greenlandic provisions with their own wording. Denmark’s prosecution-waiver order should not be presumed to decide a Greenlandic case. §§80–82a.
Faroe Islands
The current Faroese code prohibits intercourse with a child below 15 under §222, read with the separate under-12 provision in §216(2). Its inspected §216(2) does not reproduce Denmark’s separate 22-plus/under-15 clause. Section 225 extends the relevant provisions to other sexual acts. Matching age thresholds do not mean all statutory categories are identical. Faroese code, §§216 and 222–225.
Faroese §223 protects specified entrusted relationships below 18 and addresses gross abuse of superiority based on age or experience. Section 224 concerns payment involving minors; §229 addresses grooming. Section 216(1) expressly refers to consent manifested through words or actions or apparent from the specific situation and context. Do not substitute Denmark’s section numbers, prosecution regulation or later amendments for these local provisions. §§216, 223–225 and 229.
Image protections extend below 18, with limited possession clauses
In Denmark, §235 regulates distribution and possession or specified access to sexual material involving people below 18, including material treated as equivalent. Section 226 separately covers recording or producing the specified material with intent to sell or otherwise disseminate it. The nature of the material and the conduct must both be examined; every photograph is not automatically within the offence. Danish §§226 and 235; Law 722/2025.
Danish §235(3) excludes from paragraph 2 possession of material depicting a person who has reached 15 if that person agrees to the possession. This is a limited possession clause. It does not create an unrestricted right to distribute the material under paragraph 1 or settle every issue concerning its production.
Greenland has its own possession clause in §85(3), concerning a depicted person who has reached 15 and consents to possession. The Faroese provision is §236(3), not §235: it also concerns material depicting someone who has reached 15 and agrees to possession, and expressly states that consent may be withdrawn at any time. Neither clause is a general distribution exemption. Greenland §85; Faroese §236.
Keep consent to contact, consent to possession and permission to share separate. If someone seeks help about intimate material, describe what happened without forwarding it. A local legal assessment can consider the relevant definition, consent, conduct and jurisdiction.
Check commencement, rather than the year printed on an amendment
The Danish starting text inspected is consolidation 1294 of 7 November 2025. Its live official record lists subsequent Acts 263, 358, 764 and 766 of 2026. Those acts were checked for their actual amendments and commencement clauses. In particular, Act 263’s amendments increasing the ordinary penalties in §235(1)–(2) are deferred to 1 January 2027 by §14(2); they must not be treated as already operative merely because the Act was enacted in February 2026. Act 263/2026, §1 nos. 16–17 and §14; Act 358/2026.
Denmark’s image amendments under Act 722/2025 commenced on 1 July 2025 and expressly do not apply to Greenland or the Faroe Islands. Greenland’s consent reform under Act 414/2023 commenced on 1 July 2023. The current Faroese consolidation identifies its latest amendment as Act 210 of 15 December 2025, effective 1 January 2026. Dates and territorial clauses need to be checked separately. Act 722/2025, §§4–5; Act 414/2023; Faroese consolidation and amendment notes.
Greenland’s October 2026 Bill L26 proposes further image-related changes. The parliamentary record inspected identifies it as introduced, with its first reading scheduled for 12 November 2026. It is not used here as enacted law. Retsinformation also warns that its Greenland document records do not have the normal status and update features, so the official code PDF was read with later legislation and parliamentary status information. L26 parliamentary status; Greenland document record.
Practical questions
Is there a fixed close-in-age exception in Denmark?
Section 222 does not provide a fixed permitted age gap. The current prosecution-waiver order requires a specific assessment of voluntariness, development, age difference and equality, with additional outer limits. It is not a general permission.
Does reaching 15 remove all under-18 protections?
No. Specified entrusted relationships, exploitation, payment, grooming and image rules remain relevant. Greenland and the Faroe Islands have their own provisions.
Can a private image be shared because its possession was agreed?
No general sharing permission follows from the possession clauses. Distribution is regulated separately, and the applicable jurisdiction’s exact provisions must be checked.
For a specific case, record exact birth dates, the location and date, any teaching or care relationship, pressure or payment, and whether images were created, retained or shared. Seek advice in the relevant jurisdiction. Explore the Law & Rights library for separate guides to Germany and Ireland.
Official sources and verification
- Danish Criminal Code, consolidation 1294/2025, read with the live subsequent-amendment list and Acts 263/2026, 358/2026, 764/2026 and 766/2026.
- Executive Order 324/2025, §1(1)(3), and 2026 prosecutor guidance. The current order takes priority over historical order citations in the guidance.
- Greenland Criminal Code, consolidation 1016/2025, especially §§77–85; Act 1766/2025 changes the institutional-measure maximum, rather than these age thresholds.
- Lógasavn: current Faroese Criminal Code, especially §§216–236, with current status and amendment notes.
- Original commencement and territorial provisions: Act 2208/2020, Act 414/2023 and Act 722/2025.