Denmark

Penalties for possessing, using, or trafficking illegal drugs in Denmark are strict; driving any vehicle — including a bicycle — under the influence of drugs is a serious offense.

Long jail sentences — FCDO: up to 10 years — and heavy fines; applies even to small quantities and when transiting through airports.

Verified Jul 20, 2026

Cannabis is illegal in Denmark. Possessing any amount — hash, marijuana or cannabis products such as oils — is a criminal offence under the Euphoriants Act, punishable by a fine or up to 2 years in prison, and police confiscate the drugs. Standard fines start at DKK 2,000 for a first offence with up to 9.9 g of hash and rise with quantity and repeat offences; 100 g or more brings a custodial charge. Christiania in Copenhagen is not a legal zone: police shut down the organised Pusher Street hash trade in 2024 and registered over 1,200 possession cases there in a single year. Denmark's medical cannabis scheme covers only products prescribed by a doctor.

Euphoriants Act § 3: fine or imprisonment up to 2 years; the drugs are confiscated. Standard prosecution fine rates for possession for personal use (Rigsadvokaten guideline "Narkotika", version 1 April 2026, offences after 1 July 2025): hash, cannabis-containing products and synthetic cannabinoids — up to 9.9 g: DKK 2,000 / 3,000 / 4,000 for first/second/third-or-later offence; 10–49.9 g: DKK 3,000 / 4,500 / 6,000; 50–99.9 g: DKK 5,000 / 7,500 / 10,000; 100 g and above: custodial charge. Fines are doubled inside a police-designated strengthened penalty zone (Police Act § 6 a; Penal Code § 81 e) — in the 2024–25 Christiania zone, first-time possession of even small amounts of hash was fined DKK 4,000 instead of DKK 2,000. From roughly 10 kg of hash, Penal Code § 191 applies (up to 10 years; 16 in aggravated cases). A warning replaces the fine only in narrow cases — under § 3(4) where social circumstances and strong addiction to hard drugs warrant it, or as discretionary non-prosecution; the guideline notes that tourists may be issued a warning and expelled from Denmark over the case.

Verified Oct 8, 2026

Carry prescription medication in original packaging with your prescription — from 1 January 2026 Denmark applies new import rules: medicine containing narcotic substances (lists B–E) is limited to 30 days' personal supply, and antibiotics from outside the EU/EEA to 3 months' treatment.

Verified Jul 20, 2026

Possession of weapons of any kind in Denmark — including pocketknives and pepper spray — may result in criminal penalties; carrying pointed or sharp weapons requires a police-issued certificate.

Criminal penalties.

Verified Jul 20, 2026

Declare cash and other monetary instruments worth EUR 10,000 (about DKK 75,000) or more to the Danish Customs Agency whenever you enter or leave Denmark — the duty applies even if you are only in transit.

You risk being fined and having your valuables seized if you do not declare.

Verified Jul 20, 2026

Thirteen dog breeds may not be brought into Denmark, and a banned dog found in the country is destroyed by the police rather than simply turned back at the border. Lov om hunde (the Danish Dog Act) section 1 a prohibits possessing or breeding the pitbull terrier, tosa inu, American Staffordshire terrier, fila brasileiro, dogo argentino, American bulldog, boerboel, kangal, Central Asian ovtcharka, Caucasian ovtcharka, South Russian ovtcharka, tornjak and sarplaninac; section 1 a(2) extends the ban to any crossbreed involving one of them, and section 1 a(3) separately prohibits commercial import. Under section 1 b a dog kept or imported in breach of section 1 a is put down by the police, and where there is doubt about the breed the police may require the possessor to document it. A visitor has one narrow way out, also in section 1 b: the police may instead set a deadline for taking the dog out of Denmark, but only where the dog originates in a country other than Denmark, where it can reasonably be assumed the possessor did not know the dog was prohibited, and where the dog was not imported commercially - and the possessor pays the cost of removal. This is a national Danish breed ban that sits on top of the EU pet passport, microchip and rabies requirements and does not replace them.

Lov om hunde sets no fine for breaching section 1 a: section 12(1) lists the provisions punishable by fine and section 1 a is not among them. The sanction is destruction of the dog by the police under section 1 b, at the possessor's risk. Removal from Denmark instead of destruction is available only under the good-faith, non-commercial exception in section 1 b, and the costs of taking the dog out of the country are borne by the possessor.

Verified Oct 11, 2026

Denmark's drinking-age threshold is 6% ABV, not 16.5% - and the consolidated Act still prints the old number, so most sources are wrong. Two ages apply: nobody under 16 may be sold a drink of 1.2% ABV or more, and nobody under 18 may be sold a drink of MORE THAN 6% ABV (lov om forbud mod salg af tobak og alkohol til personer under 18 ar, § 2, stk. 1-2). The threshold dropped from 16.5% to over 6% on 1 April 2025, which puts ordinary strong beer, wine and anything stronger in the 18+ bracket while light beer stays 16+. Two further changes landed 1 January 2025: the words "from shops where retail sale takes place" were deleted, so the age limits are no longer confined to retail shops, and the ban now expressly covers proxy sales - buying for a minor is caught. In nightlife zones designated under the Police Act § 6 b, no drink of 1.2% ABV or more may be sold OR delivered to anyone under 18 between 22:00 and 08:00 (§ 2, stk. 3). Bringing alcohol in from another EU country follows the same two ages: 1.2-6% not by under-16s, over 6% not by under-18s (§ 3, stk. 2-3). The Act does not apply to the Faroe Islands or Greenland (§ 7).

The fine falls on the seller, not the buyer. § 5, stk. 1 punishes the shopkeeper, the restaurateur, the hotel keeper, the canteen owner and the distance seller with a bode - a fine - and states that a grave or repeated breach is a specially aggravating circumstance in setting it. No kroner figure is prescribed in the Act. Critically, the same provision says "Bestemmelsen i straffelovens § 23 finder ikke anvendelse" - the Criminal Code's accomplice rule does NOT apply - so the under-age buyer is not punished as an accessory to the sale. Companies can be held criminally liable (§ 5, stk. 3). Compliance with §§ 1-2 is policed by Erhvervsstyrelsen, which replaced Sikkerhedsstyrelsen in § 2 b on 3 September 2026; the consolidated text still names Sikkerhedsstyrelsen.

Verified Oct 10, 2026

You may carry a flavoured vape into Denmark, but only ten of them. Chapter 7 a, section 18 b of the Electronic Cigarettes Act makes it illegal to import, buy, hand over, receive, manufacture, process or possess nicotine e-cigarettes and refill containers that are caught by the flavour ban in section 25 a(1) or that exceed the nicotine limit - with an express exception for travel goods of up to ten units for your own consumption, and possession of up to ten units for your own consumption. The nicotine limit is 20 mg/ml. The flavour ban itself (section 25 a) prohibits marketing in Denmark of any e-cigarette, refill container (with or without nicotine) or e-cigarette flavouring with a characterising aroma, except menthol or tobacco, and of any device that lets you change a vape's smell or taste - so the flavours you can legally buy in Denmark are tobacco and menthol only. Marketing to anyone under 18 is prohibited, and registered retailers must run an age-control system (section 15).

Fine. Section 33(1) of the Electronic Cigarettes Act punishes with a fine anyone who breaches section 15(1)-(3), section 18 b(1) or section 25 a(1) and (2); the Act itself sets no maximum amount. The Danish Safety Technology Authority (Sikkerhedsstyrelsen) supervises chapters 3-6, section 7 a and section 25 a, and the customs and tax administration assists with control of chapter 7 a - the import and possession ban (section 19).

Verified Oct 7, 2026

Indoor smoking is banned across Denmark's public spaces. Under the Smoke-free Environments Act (lov om røgfri miljøer, LBK nr. 1632 af 18/06/2021, which consolidates LBK nr. 581 af 26/03/2021 with the amendments made by Act no. 2071 of 21 December 2020), smoking is not permitted indoors in premises to which the public has access (§ 18), in public transport and taxis (§ 20), or indoors at serving places -- any premises serving food or drink for consumption on or at the point of sale (§ 21). Designated smoking rooms and smoking cabins may be set up in all three settings, and in a serving place no food or drink may be served or brought into them, except that the place may allow guests to bring their own drinks. Two exceptions matter to a visitor: a hotel room, cabin or similar room let to overnight guests on a commercial basis may be designated as one where guests may smoke (§ 19); and a small traditional bar may permit indoor smoking only if it holds an alcohol licence, serves no real food, has a serving area under 40 square metres, and has tables and chairs in that serving area (§ 22). The Act does not apply to the Faroe Islands or Greenland (§ 34).

The Act's fine falls on the venue, not on the individual smoker: an employer, owner, restaurateur, manager or leaseholder who permits smoking contrary to the Act is punished by a fine (lov om røgfri miljøer § 26, stk. 2), and legal persons can be held criminally liable under Chapter 5 of the Criminal Code (§ 26, stk. 3). A fine also applies to anyone who breaches the written-workplace-policy duty in § 5 or an order issued under the Working Environment Act, the Act on Safety at Sea, the Aviation Act or the Offshore Safety Act (§ 26, stk. 1). An employee who breaches the workplace smoking ban is dealt with under the rules governing that employee's own employment relationship rather than by fine (§ 25). The retail age limit for tobacco is set by a separate Act that was not read for this entry.

Verified Oct 9, 2026

A valid US state driver's license is acceptable in Denmark for up to 90 days; you must be 18 to drive, and long-term residents must obtain a Danish license.

Verified Jul 20, 2026

Driving any vehicle — including a bicycle — under the influence of alcohol or drugs is a strictly enforced serious offense in Denmark.

License confiscation, immediate detention, high fines, and potentially lengthy jail sentences.

Verified Jul 20, 2026

Danish road rules differ from the US: right turns on a red light are illegal, headlights must be on at all times day and night, and handheld phone use while driving is banned.

Police fines for violations (US State Dept / Government of Canada).

Verified Jul 20, 2026

Taking photographs in public is lawful in Denmark, but photographing people who are somewhere not freely accessible to the public is a crime. Section 264 a of the Danish Criminal Code (straffeloven) punishes anyone who without right photographs persons who are in a place that is not freely accessible, and the same applies to observing such persons with binoculars or any other apparatus. Section 264 separately punishes gaining access without right to another person's house or other place that is not freely accessible, so climbing a fence or entering a private courtyard to get the shot is a second offence. Passing the image on is punished in its own right: section 264 d covers passing on, without right, images concerning another person's private affairs, or images of that person taken in circumstances that can clearly be demanded to be kept from a wider public. The provisions apply to visitors and residents alike and do not depend on whether the photograph is published or sold.

Photographing without right persons who are in a place not freely accessible, or observing them with binoculars or other apparatus: fine or imprisonment for up to 6 months (straffeloven § 264 a). Gaining access without right to another person's house or other place not freely accessible, or failing to leave when asked: fine or imprisonment for up to 6 months; up to 6 years where the intent was to obtain a business secret or where there are otherwise particularly aggravating circumstances (§ 264). Passing on without right images of another person's private affairs, or images taken in circumstances that can clearly be demanded to be withheld from a wider public: fine or imprisonment for up to 6 months, rising to up to 3 years where the nature and extent of the disclosure or the number of persons affected makes the circumstances particularly aggravating (§ 264 d).

Verified Oct 9, 2026

Your US walkie-talkies are the trap here. American FRS/GMRS radios transmit on 462/467 MHz, and those frequencies are NOT on Denmark's licence-free list - only the European PMR446 type (446.0-446.2 MHz) is. Using radio frequencies without a licence is a criminal offence punishable by a fine. Receive-only gear (scanners, radio receivers) needs no licence at all. No Danish law names signal jammers, but using one is unlicensed transmitting, so leave it at home.

LBK nr 119 af 21/01/2026 s.54: "Med bode straffes den, der 1) overtraeder s.6, stk. 1" - a FINE ONLY, with no imprisonment available, for using radio frequencies without a licence. No fine band is stated in the Act. Companies can be held criminally liable under chapter 5 of the Criminal Code (s.54 stk. 3). Note that the penalty attaches to USE, not to possession: Danish law does not make merely holding radio equipment an offence.

Verified Sep 11, 2026

There are no legal restrictions on same-sex sexual relations or the organization of LGB events in the Kingdom of Denmark.

Verified Jul 20, 2026

It is illegal to wear clothing that conceals your face in a public place in Denmark — the ban applies to visitors, with legal exemptions such as masks worn for health reasons.

Fine of about DKK 1,000, increasing for repeat offences (FCDO).

Verified Jul 20, 2026