Decision of the Court of Cassation, III Criminal Section, No. 11675 of 21 March 2016

The Court of Cassation ruled on the norms concerning child pornography, with particular reference to law No. 269/98, which introduced Article 600 ter into the criminal code and law No.172/2012 on ratification and implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse. The Court of Cassation held that the offense of transfer of child sexual abuse material as per Article 600.4 ter of the criminal code does not occur in the hypothesis where the transmitted images are directly captured by the minor through selfie videos and voluntarily disseminated. For the existence of the offense referred to in Article 600.4 ter, it is necessary that the author of the conduct is different from the minor, irrespective of the profit-making nature of such conduct and the consent that the minor may have given to the production of pornographic material by other persons.