International Convention for the Suppression of the Circulation of and Traffic in Obscene Publications, concluded at Geneva on 12 September 1923, amended by the Protocol, signed at Lake Success, 12 November 1947

Netherlands, the Kingdom of the

26-07-1985

.... that the Kingdom of the Netherlands hereby denounces for the part of the Kingdom in Europe the International Convention for the suppression of the circulation of and the traffic in obscene publications established (Geneva, 12 September 1923) as well as the Protocol amending the said Convention (New York, 12 November 1947) in accordance with Article XII of the Convention. For the Kingdom of the Netherlands the Convention and the Protocol will therefore only remain in force in the Netherlands Antilles.
The reason for the denunciation of the Convention for the part of the Kingdom in Europe is that under the Act of 3 July 1985 (Bulletin of Acts, Orders and Decrees No. 385) the provisions of the Dutch Criminal Code were amended in such a way that it is no longer possible for the Netherlands fully to comply with the international obligations it asssumed under the Convention. Article I of the Convention contains -inter alia- the obligation to make it a punishable offence to make or produce or have in possession, to import, convey or export obscene publications or any other obscene objects for the purpose of distribution or public exhibition.
The new provisions of the Dutch Criminal Code fulfil this requirement only with regard to the portrayal of - or to any medium of information which portrays - sexual activity involving persons under the age of sixteen (i.e. child pornography). As regards the other forms of pornography, the only offences will be to display obscene images or objects in shop windows, to send such images or objects unsolicited through the mail or to supply, offer or show them to children. Since the Convention does not contain any provision which would allow the Netherlands to make punishable only those offences included in the amended Criminal Code, the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands has no other choice than to denounce the Convention for the Netherlands.