Norway’s parliament passed new legislation Friday that redefines rape to include any sexual act without explicit consent, eliminating the previous requirement to prove physical force or threats. The legal shift aligns Norway with several other European countries that have revised their rape statutes in recent years.
The law now permits prosecutors to bring rape charges in cases where there is no evidence of violence but where consent was not communicated verbally or through clear actions. “Anyone who has sex with someone who has not consented to it by word or deed” can now be prosecuted under the new standard.
Sweden, which adopted a similar measure in 2018, reported a 75% increase in convictions. Denmark, Finland, and Iceland have also enacted consent-based reforms since then, forming a regional pattern of legislative change around sexual assault definitions.
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