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<strong>Child</strong> PornograPhy First report oF the Dutch NatioNal rapporteur
Article 240b of the Dutch Criminal Code, other special conditions can be imposed, such as not being
allowed to carry out (voluntary) work aimed at children, not being permitted to affiliate with a scouting
organisation, not being allowed to use social networking sites to approach minors 533 and not being allowed
to give singing or piano lessons at home. 534 Judgments have also been known in which a convicted
perpetrator has had to make a contribution to ECPAT. In one of these cases, a suspect was sentenced to
a community service order of 240 hours and a suspended custodial sentence with a term of six months,
with a probationary period of three years for the possession of child abuse material. Because the court
judged that a working order and a suspended custodial sentence would not suffice, it imposed the special
condition for the suspended custodial sentence, amongst others, that the suspect must “be forced to
transfer a sum of 5,000 euros to Defence for <strong>Child</strong>ren-ECPAT in Amsterdam.” 535
In cases involving child pornography, some judgments are also known in which a computer ban or internet
monitoring has been imposed as a special condition. 536 These are drastic measures. In one case that
stood before the Court of Zutphen, the Public Prosecution Service requested the special condition that
the police would be able to digitally inspect the data storage media of the suspect at any time, but the
court chose not to follow this request: “In view of the implementation of this in practice and the possible
breach of fundamental rights associated with this, the court rules that there are too many objections.”
However, the court was of the opinion that the same effect could be achieved by imposing the special
condition that the suspect would have to comply with the instructions from probation and after-care
services. In this case, the suspect was placed under a conditional order, including the condition that he
would not be allowed to have possession of a computer, unless approval for this was granted first. 537
The right to access the Internet is also the subject of discussion within the European Union. Complete
prohibition of access to the Internet should only be permitted if this is ‘appropriate, proportionate
and necessary within a democratic society’, 538 and must specifically respect the pre-
533 Court of Utrecht, 9 February 2011, <strong>National</strong> Case Law Number: BP3760.
534 Court of Den Bosch, 18 February 2011, <strong>National</strong> Case Law Number: BP4903.
535 Court of Middelburg, 2 December 2009, <strong>National</strong> Case Law Number: BL9868. See also: Court of Rotterdam,
5 August 2010 (not published), in which a conviction was made for the possession of child abuse
material, whereby a working order of 240 hours and a suspended custodial sentence of 12 months with
a probationary period of 5 years were imposed, with a payment of 2,500 euros into the Defence for
<strong>Child</strong>ren-ECPAT fund as a special condition.
536 Court of Amsterdam, 15 April 2008 (not published) (ban on having an internet connection during the
probationary period); Court of Zwolle 16 February 2010, <strong>National</strong> Case Law Number: BL7167 (allowing
probation and after-care services to monitor computer and internet use); Court of Almelo, 4 June 2010,
<strong>National</strong> Case Law Number: BM7070 (monitoring of computer for presence of child abuse material,
carried out by the vice squad); Court of Utrecht 9 February 2011, <strong>National</strong> Case Law Number: BP3760
(monitoring of the computer by probation and after-care services and a ban on the use of social network
sites to approach minors).
537 Court of Zutphen, 8 July 2009, <strong>National</strong> Case Law Number: BJ1986.
538 Europa-Nu, “Europees Parlement akkoord met telecom-pakket na regeling voorwaarden afsluiten gebruikers internet”
[European Parliament agrees with telecom package following regulation regarding conditions for disconnecting
internet access for users], www.europa-nu.nl/id/vi9wc5z8wmxo/nieuws/europees_parlement_akkoord_met_telecom?ctx=vhxlds22ipzk&start_tab0=20
(viewed 30 June 2011).