On October 29, 2025, members of parliament representing the “Servant of the People” and “Voice” political parties registered a draft law on amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine regarding criminal offenses against personal safety (No. 14165), which proposes:

1) to revise Article 301, “Import, Production, Sale, and Distribution of Pornographic Materials,” of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (hereinafter referred to as the CC) to provide for criminal liability for: coercing a person to participate in the production, filming, distributing, or publishing pornographic material, including through threats, violence, psychological abuse, blackmail, deception, or exploitation of a person’s vulnerable state (Part 1); the production, sale, circulation, distribution, or provision of access to pornographic materials involving a minor, as well as coercing a minor to participate in the creation, filming, distribution, or publication of such material, including through threats, violence, psychological abuse, blackmail, deception, or exploitation of a person’s vulnerable state (Part 2); the acts specified in Part 2 of this article, committed repeatedly or by prior conspiracy by a group of persons, or involving a young child in the production, sale, or distribution of child pornography, as well as coercing a young child to participate in the creation, production, distribution of child pornography (Part 3);

2) clarify the definitions of “pornographic materials,” “erotic materials,” “intimate materials,” and “psychological abuse” in the note to
Article 301 of the Criminal Code (as amended by the draft);

3) establish criminal liability for the unlawful distribution of intimate materials and the creation of sexually explicit content without the person’s consent (new Article 301-3 of the Criminal Code). In other words, lawmakers are proposing, in particular, to decriminalize certain acts related to the creation, sale, and distribution of “adult pornography” within Ukraine.

As noted in the explanatory memorandum to Bill No. 14165, this approach makes it possible to distinguish between private relationships between adults and acts that truly pose a danger to society, while at the same time ensuring the realization of the human right to privacy, enshrined in Article 32 of the Constitution of Ukraine and Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The bill also aims to resolve legal conflicts between criminal and tax legislation that have arisen due to ambiguous interpretations of activities involving the production of sexually explicit content. This refers to situations where tax authorities recognize such activities as business operations, while law enforcement agencies classify them as crimes. Establishing clear legal boundaries will help resolve these contradictions, ensure consistency in law enforcement, and lay the groundwork for harmonizing Ukrainian legislation with European Union law and international standards in the areas of privacy protection, digital ethics, and freedom of expression.

Regarding the shortcomings in Draft Law No. 14165:

According to the scientific and expert opinion on the draft Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine Regarding Criminal Offenses Against Personal Safety,” Draft Law No. 14165 has a number of significant shortcomings; so I would like to draw attention to some of them, with which one cannot help but agree, namely:

• The bill proposes to establish criminal liability for the unlawful distribution of intimate materials and the creation of sexually explicit content without the person’s consent (new Article 301-3 of the Criminal Code). In particular, Parts 1 and 3 of the new Article 301-3 of the Criminal Code provide for criminal liability for the distribution, public display, or provision of access to intimate materials without the voluntary consent of the person depicted in such materials, and for the same acts committed against a minor. However, according to experts, the introduction of these criminal offenses into criminal law will only make it more difficult to distinguish one socially dangerous act against public morality from another. This is because, alongside the concept of “pornographic material,” the concept of “intimate material” is also being introduced (see the note to Article 301 of the Criminal Code as amended by the draft). At the same time, an analysis of the provided definitions of “pornographic material” and “intimate material” suggests that no clear criteria are established to distinguish between these concepts. Thus, “intimate materials” are proposed to be understood as images containing the naked body or sexual acts of a specific person, or a person who can be identified, taken in a private setting, while “pornographic material” refers to images whose primary purpose is to arouse sexual desire and which contain a naturalistic, realistic, or detailed depiction of a sexual act of any form or of acts of a sexual nature, as well as the display of genitalia. Consequently, under certain conditions, intimate materials may “transform” into pornographic material, and pornographic material may contain, in particular, depictions of sexual acts by a specific person taken in a private setting.
• Part 3 of Article 301 of the Criminal Code (as amended by the draft) establishes criminal liability, including for coercing a minor to participate in the creation, production, or distribution of child pornography. In this context, experts note that criminal liability for coercing a minor to participate in the creation of child pornography is already provided for in Part 4 of Article 301-1 of the Criminal Code. Therefore, establishing criminal liability for identical acts in Part 3 of Article 301 of the Criminal Code (as amended by the draft) is inappropriate due to the resulting conflict of laws and its inconsistency with the criteria for criminalizing socially dangerous acts.

Regarding the Need to Decriminalize Certain Acts Related to the Production, Sale, and Distribution of “Adult” Pornography

Despite a number of shortcomings in Draft Law No. 14165, provided that these shortcomings are addressed and the draft law itself is further refined, in my opinion, it is necessary for our society, and here is why.

First, I believe that one can agree with the content of the explanatory note to this bill, specifically, that the current version of Article 301 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, adopted more than two decades ago, maintains a ban on the production, sale, and distribution of pornographic materials. It reflects the legal approaches of the period when the repealed Law of Ukraine “On the Protection of Public Morality” was in effect and does not take into account the realities of the digital age. The development of modern technologies, the emergence of platforms for creating and distributing sexually explicit content (OnlyFans, Patreon, Fansly, etc.), as well as the use of artificial intelligence to generate images of individuals without their consent, have given rise to a number of conflicts and gaps in law enforcement. In practice, the state recognizes such activities as entrepreneurial—by collecting taxes on the income of digital content creators—but at the same time classifies them as criminal. This creates a state of legal uncertainty and undermines citizens’ trust in criminal law.

Therefore, in my opinion, if Bill No. 14165 is properly implemented, our state will gain control, at the legislative level, over the pornography industry in Ukraine and, of course, will generate significant financial revenue that is currently in the “shadow economy”; and most importantly, such an amendment to the Criminal Code will ensure effective protection of minors from sexual exploitation; define the boundaries of the voluntary production of intimate content between adults; and introduce criminal liability for the distribution of intimate materials without a person’s consent and the use of their likeness without permission.

At the same time, before legalizing the porn industry in Ukraine, strict requirements and restrictions must be established for the conduct of such activities, and there must be strict oversight and criminal liability for violations of these requirements. Furthermore, strict requirements must be established for the pornographic content itself; in particular, it must not contain any violence, let alone the involvement of minors.

Second, regarding a similar bill—namely, Bill No. 12191, which was endorsed by the Verkhovna Rada’s Law Enforcement Committee in December 2024— but which also requires further refinement and submission to parliament for consideration, my fellow lawyers expressed their position—with which I fully agree—namely, that this bill does not contradict the Constitution of Ukraine and can be implemented; and this also applies to Bill No. 14165.