site.btaPenal Code Provisions on Sexual Abuse of Children Amended on First Reading

Bulgaria’s Parliament on Thursday voted unanimously 190-0, to pass on first reading Government-proposed revisions to the Penal Code related to sexual abuse of children. 

The amendments transpose entirely the provisions of Directive 2011/93/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography.

The same bill amends the Criminal Procedure Code in response to an infringement procedure launched by the European Commission for incomplete transposition of Directive 2012/29/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, and also supplements the Administrative Violations and Sanctions Act.

The draft legislation ensures protection at criminal law of children who are victims of sexual abuse, who have sustained serious psychological harm or the harm has affected their moral or psychological development.