Jurisdiction: Denmark (not Greenland or the Faroe Islands)
Instrument: Bill L 49 (2026–27 session), amending the Danish Copyright Act (ophavsretsloven)
Introduced: 8 October 2026 by Minister of Culture Zenia Stampe
Status: Pending before the Folketing
Proposed entry into force: 1 January 2027
What the bill does
Bill L 49 makes it unlawful to make a realistic, digitally generated imitation of a natural person's appearance, voice or movements available to the public without that person's consent. It amends the Copyright Act rather than creating a standalone deepfake law. The bill follows a political agreement reached between several parties on 26 June 2025. An earlier version lapsed when a general election was called.
Main provisions
New section 73 a: personal characteristics
- Applies to realistic digital imitations of a person's appearance, voice or movements, whether or not the use is commercial.
- Consent must be "voluntary, specific, informed and unambiguous". It can be withdrawn at any time, with effect only for future publication.
- The person who makes an imitation available to the public must prove that the imitated person consented.
- Protection lasts until 50 years after the end of the year in which the person died.
- Only natural persons are covered. Company names and trademarks are outside its scope.
New section 65 a: performers
- Gives performing artists a separate right over realistic digital imitations of their performances, including performances that are not of a work, such as those by acrobats, magicians and impersonators.
- Excludes competitive sports performances.
- Covers performers who are nationals or residents of an EEA country.
- Can be managed through extended collective licensing. Disputes over payment terms can go to the Copyright License Tribunal (Ophavsretslicensnævnet) first.
- Protection periods follow existing performers' rights: generally 50 years from the end of the year of the performance, or 70 years for sound recordings published within that period.
Exceptions
- Caricature, satire, parody, and criticism of power or society. This exception does not apply to misinformation that could cause concrete, serious danger to other people's rights or essential interests, or to life or property.
- News reporting, where reproducing the imitation is a natural and necessary part of the coverage.
- Trivial uses, which the explanatory notes say should be read narrowly.
- Private sharing, for example within a private gathering.
- Imitations that are clearly stylised or fantastical are generally not "realistic" and fall outside the rule.
Enforcement and penalties
- No criminal penalties. The bill amends section 76 of the Copyright Act so that the new provisions are excluded from its fines.
- Enforcement is through the civil courts. A person whose likeness is imitated can claim damages and compensation for non-pecuniary harm. Performers can claim reasonable remuneration and damages under section 83.
- Intent is not required. Negligent publication is covered.
- Courts can order infringing material to be removed from the medium where it was made available.
Obligations for online platforms
The bill creates no new general monitoring or filtering duty. The explanatory notes exclude mere-conduit and caching services and hosting services as defined in Article 3(g) of the EU Digital Services Act, and say the rules must be read alongside platforms' existing DSA notice-and-action obligations. The government has said one aim of the bill is to get large platforms to remove manipulated content quickly.
Relation to EU law
According to the bill, it does not implement any EU law obligation. It is a national measure that operates alongside the EU AI Act's transparency rules for deepfakes and the Digital Services Act.
Who is affected
Anyone who publishes realistic AI-generated images, video or audio of a real person to an audience in Denmark: media companies, advertisers, content creators, AI app providers and individuals with public social media accounts.
Note: The bill text is currently available in Danish only. This entry is based on the Ministry of Culture's announcement and published analyses of the bill's provisions. Check the Folketing's page for Bill L 49 for the final text, and any committee amendments, before relying on specific section numbers.