Defamation Law in the Netherlands: Smaad, Laster and Belediging
Dutch law deals with damage to a person's reputation in two entirely separate places, and the choice between them is the first thing a reader has to get right. The Wetboek van Strafrecht (Sr) makes certain statements criminal offences in Titel XVI of Boek Tweede, which is headed Belediging. The Burgerlijk Wetboek (BW) treats a damaging statement as a possible unlawful act (onrechtmatige daad), which a civil court can order stopped, corrected or compensated.
These are not two stages of one process. They begin in different ways, they are decided by different bodies, and they produce different outcomes, so a person may take one route, the other, or both. This page is the map for the Dutch defamation section: what the law consists of, who decides what, and which of the three guides below answers a given question.
Information last verified on 21 July 2026. This page provides general legal information about Netherlands law and does not constitute legal advice in an individual case.
What Dutch defamation law consists of
The criminal side sits in Titel XVI of Boek Tweede Sr, headed Belediging. Three of its offences carry almost all of the everyday questions: smaad and smaadschrift in artikel 261 Sr, laster in artikel 262 Sr, and eenvoudige belediging in artikel 266 Sr.
Smaad is the intentional attack on a person's honour or good name by imputing a specific fact (bepaald feit), and smaadschrift is the same offence committed in one of the written, depicted or publicly read-out forms set out in artikel 261 lid 2 Sr. Laster is smaad or smaadschrift committed in the knowledge that the imputed fact is untrue. Eenvoudige belediging under artikel 266 Sr is an intentional insult that does not carry the character of smaad or smaadschrift, which in practice means that it imputes no definite act. The elements of each, and the exception in artikel 261 lid 3 Sr, are set out on the guide to smaad and laster and on the guide to belediging.
One rule governs all of them and changes what a reader should do next. Smaad, laster and eenvoudige belediging are klachtdelicten: under artikel 269 Sr they are prosecuted only on the klacht of the person against whom the offence was committed. What a klacht has to contain, who may file one and how long they have is the subject of the guide to filing a defamation complaint.
The civil side rests on artikel 6:162 BW, which obliges a person who commits an unlawful act to compensate the loss that results from it. None of the criminal elements is required here, so a statement that is not smaad can still be an onrechtmatige daad. A civil claim under artikel 6:162 BW runs independently of the criminal route: it needs no klacht and is not bound by the three-month klachttermijn.
The civil route is also where the remedies most people actually want live. A correction (rectificatie) can be ordered under artikel 6:167 BW, and urgent provisional relief can be sought in summary proceedings (kort geding) under artikel 254 Rv. Both of those, together with compensation and the question of which court hears the claim, are covered on the guide to smaad and laster.
Criminal or civil: two routes, not two stages
The short version is three lines. The criminal route asks whether the state should punish the person who made the statement, and the person defamed sets it in motion but does not control where it goes from there. The civil route asks whether the person who made the statement owes the person defamed something, and the person affected controls that claim from beginning to end.
The third line is the one people miss. Because the two routes have separate requirements and separate timetables, choosing one does not close the other, and a decision in one does not settle the other.
That has a practical consequence worth naming. Someone whose main interest is getting a publication corrected or taken down is describing a civil remedy, even if their first instinct is to go to the politie. A side-by-side comparison of what each route requires, what it can produce, who carries the cost and how to choose between them is set out on the guide to smaad and laster.
Which body decides what
| Body | What it does in a defamation matter |
|---|---|
| Politie | Receives an aangifte or a klacht and investigates; it does not decide whether a criminal case is brought |
| Openbaar Ministerie | The public prosecution service, which alone decides whether a prosecution follows |
| Strafrechter | The criminal court, which tries the case if the Openbaar Ministerie prosecutes |
| Kantonrechter or rechtbank | The subdistrict court or the district court, which decides a civil claim under artikel 6:162 BW, including rectificatie and schadevergoeding |
| Voorzieningenrechter | Decides an urgent application for provisional relief in kort geding under artikel 254 Rv |
| Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens | Supervises the processing of personal data, and does not decide whether a statement damaged a reputation |
The last row matters more than it looks. Complaints about false or damaging statements are often sent to the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens because the statement appeared online, but reputation is not what the AP supervises, and a defamation question sent there is a question sent to the wrong place.
Where each question goes
Questions about what the statement itself has to amount to belong to the guide to smaad and laster. It covers the elements of artikel 261 Sr and artikel 262 Sr, the exception in artikel 261 lid 3 Sr, and the whole civil route, including artikel 6:162 BW, rectificatie, kort geding and which court hears the claim.
Questions about what to do, and in what order, belong to the guide to filing a defamation complaint. It covers the klacht requirement, the period for filing, how a report is actually made and what the Openbaar Ministerie does with it.
Questions about an insult that imputes no specific fact belong to the guide to belediging. It covers artikel 266 Sr, the aggravated forms in artikel 267 Sr where the insult is directed at public authority, and the rest of Titel XVI that is neither smaad nor laster.
A recording is often the evidence in a defamation dispute, and the rules on making one and on producing it in court are separate from everything above. Those are covered on the Netherlands recording laws section page and on recordings as evidence. For a shorter country-level summary written as part of the worldwide defamation survey, see the Netherlands entry in the world defamation survey. The wider Dutch legal map is on the Netherlands law overview.
Frequently Asked Questions
What law covers defamation in the Netherlands?
Two bodies of law cover it. The criminal offences are in Titel XVI of Boek Tweede of the Wetboek van Strafrecht, headed Belediging, which contains smaad and smaadschrift (artikel 261 Sr), laster (artikel 262 Sr) and eenvoudige belediging (artikel 266 Sr). Alongside that, a damaging statement can be an unlawful act (onrechtmatige daad) under artikel 6:162 BW, which is the basis for a civil claim. Neither replaces the other, and the same statement can fall under both or under only one of them.
Is defamation a criminal offence or a civil matter in the Netherlands?
It can be either, and the two are independent of each other. On the criminal side the offences in Titel XVI Sr are prosecuted only on the klacht of the person against whom the offence was committed, under artikel 269 Sr. On the civil side the same statement can be an unlawful act (onrechtmatige daad) under artikel 6:162 BW, which needs no klacht and is not tied to the criminal timetable. A person may pursue one route, the other, or both.
Who decides a defamation case in the Netherlands?
That depends on the route. In the criminal route the politie receive the report and investigate, the Openbaar Ministerie alone decides whether a prosecution is brought, and the strafrechter tries the case if one follows. In the civil route the person affected brings the claim and a civil court decides it, either the subdistrict court (kantonrechter) or the district court (rechtbank) depending on the claim. The Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens is not part of either route, because it supervises the processing of personal data rather than deciding whether a statement damaged a reputation.
Does the criminal case have to finish before a civil claim can be brought?
No. The claim under artikel 6:162 BW stands on its own footing and does not wait on the criminal route. A decision by the Openbaar Ministerie not to prosecute therefore does not decide the civil claim, and a person who never files a klacht at all can still sue. The two routes have different requirements, so an outcome in one does not settle the other.
Is an insult the same as defamation under Dutch law?
No, and the difference decides which provision applies. Smaad under artikel 261 Sr requires the imputation of a specific fact (bepaald feit), while eenvoudige belediging under artikel 266 Sr is defined as an intentional insult that does not carry the character of smaad or smaadschrift. A general insult that accuses the person of no definite act therefore falls on the artikel 266 Sr side of the line. The elements of each are set out on the two guides in this section.
Where should I start if a false statement about me was published online?
Start by working out which route answers the question being asked. If the question is what the statement has to amount to before it is smaad or laster, or what a court can order about it, the guide to smaad, laster and the civil route covers both the criminal offences and the claim under artikel 6:162 BW. If the question is how to report it and what happens after that, the guide to filing a defamation complaint covers the klacht. If no specific fact was imputed and the statement was simply insulting, the guide to belediging is the relevant one.
Sources and References
- Artikel 261 Sr, smaad en smaadschrift(wetten.overheid.nl).gov
- Artikel 262 Sr, laster(wetten.overheid.nl).gov
- Artikel 266 Sr, eenvoudige belediging(wetten.overheid.nl).gov
- Artikel 267 Sr, verhoging bij belediging van het openbaar gezag(wetten.overheid.nl).gov
- Artikel 269 Sr, belediging alleen op klacht vervolgbaar(wetten.overheid.nl).gov
- Artikel 66 Sr, termijn voor het indienen van de klacht(wetten.overheid.nl).gov
- Artikel 6:162 BW, onrechtmatige daad(wetten.overheid.nl).gov
- Artikel 6:167 BW, rectificatie(wetten.overheid.nl).gov
- Artikel 254 Rv, kort geding voor de voorzieningenrechter(wetten.overheid.nl).gov