Stalking under Dutch law: recognition, protection and legal steps

Stalking under Dutch law is a criminal offence known as belaging, set out in Article 285b of the Dutch Criminal Code (Wetboek van Strafrecht). It covers the unlawful, systematic and deliberate invasion of another person’s private life, carried out with the aim of forcing that person to do, refrain from or tolerate something, or of instilling fear. The maximum penalty is three years’ imprisonment or a fourth-category fine, and prosecution is only possible if the person targeted files a formal complaint.

That single legal definition decides a great deal in practice. It explains why one unpleasant message is rarely enough, why a diary is worth more than a memory, and why the timing of your report matters. This guide walks through the elements the Public Prosecution Service (Openbaar Ministerie) has to prove, the difference between stalking and neighbouring offences such as threat and defamation, the evidence that actually carries weight, and the protective orders available through the criminal courts and through a civil injunction. It also sets out what you can do in the first week, because in stalking cases the early decisions tend to determine how strong the file eventually is.

What counts as stalking under Article 285b of the Dutch Criminal Code

Article 285b of the Criminal Code makes it an offence to unlawfully, systematically and deliberately infringe the private life of another person with the intention of coercing that person or instilling fear. Behind that sentence sit three cumulative elements, and the Public Prosecution Service must establish all three before a court can convict.

• A systematic pattern (stelselmatig). Not a single incident, but a course of conduct. Dutch courts look at the nature, duration, frequency and intensity of the behaviour, the circumstances in which it took place and the effect it had on the person targeted.
• An unlawful and deliberate invasion of private life. The conduct must intrude on the personal sphere of the victim and must be intentional, not accidental or careless.
• A specific aim (oogmerk). The offender must have acted in order to force the victim to do, refrain from or tolerate something, or in order to instil fear. Persistent unwanted contact after a clear refusal is the classic example.

The maximum sentence is three years of imprisonment or a fine of the fourth category. In practice the courts more often impose a community service order, a suspended sentence and a restraining order, with the length of the pattern, any earlier violence and the presence of children weighing heavily on the outcome.

One feature of Article 285b is easy to overlook and decisive in practice: belaging is a klachtdelict. Under the second paragraph of the article, the Public Prosecution Service may only prosecute if the person against whom the offence was committed has expressly asked for prosecution. Reporting the facts is not automatically the same thing. When you make your report at the police station, say in as many words that you want the offender prosecuted and check that this wish is recorded in the statement you sign.

The complaint is also time-bound. Article 66 of the Criminal Code gives you three months from the day after you became aware of the offence. With an ongoing pattern the starting point is open to argument, and defence counsel will argue for the earliest possible date. That is a practical reason not to let a stalking situation run for months before you act, quite apart from the safety considerations.

How stalking differs from threat, defamation and domestic violence

Stalking is defined by the pattern, not by the seriousness of any one act. That is what separates it from the offences it is most often confused with, and the distinction matters because it decides which article the Public Prosecution Service charges and which evidence is relevant.

• Threat (bedreiging, Article 285 of the Criminal Code) covers a single serious threat, for example a threat of violence or arson. One message can be enough. Stalking needs a course of conduct, but the two are regularly charged together.
• Defamation and slander (smaad and laster, Articles 261 and 262 of the Criminal Code) concern damage to reputation through statements made public. A stalker who spreads accusations online may commit both offences at once, and there is a parallel civil claim for unlawful publication.
• Domestic violence is not a separate offence in the Dutch Criminal Code. It is a context in which offences such as assault, threat and stalking are committed, and it opens up additional powers, including a temporary domestic exclusion order.

That last power is worth knowing about. Under the Temporary Domestic Exclusion Order Act (Wet tijdelijk huisverbod) the mayor can bar someone from their own home for ten days if there is a serious and immediate danger to a partner, child or other member of the household. The order can be extended to a maximum of four weeks and is imposed by the municipality rather than by a criminal court, which makes it one of the fastest instruments available when a former partner still has access to the house.

Stalking also has a civil dimension that runs alongside the criminal one. Systematic harassment is an unlawful act within the meaning of Article 6:162 of the Civil Code (Burgerlijk Wetboek), which means you can ask a civil court for an injunction and for damages regardless of what the Public Prosecution Service decides. The two routes are not alternatives; in serious cases they are used together, and a good criminal law strategy takes both into account from the start.

Recognising the pattern: physical, digital and proxy stalking

Stalking rarely announces itself. It usually starts with contact that looks explicable in isolation, and only becomes recognisable when you set the incidents side by side. The table below sets out the forms that occur most often, the behaviour that characterises each and the evidence that tends to be available.

In our practice the most common pattern by far is stalking by a former partner in the months after a relationship ends, often mixed with disputes about children, the house or money. That mixture is dangerous, because it gives the offender apparently legitimate reasons to make contact and gives everyone around the situation a reason to treat it as a difficult break-up rather than as an offence. Where a former partner has used violence during the relationship, the risk of escalation is materially higher and that fact belongs in your report to the police.

A second pattern deserves separate mention. Stalking that runs entirely through screens is no less serious for being remote, and it frequently overlaps with impersonation, fake accounts and the publication of private images. If that is your situation, the article on cyberbullying and online reputation damage sets out the additional remedies against platforms and publishers.

Building evidence that will hold up in a Dutch case

Because the offence turns on a pattern, your file has to show a pattern. A well-kept log is the single most valuable document in a stalking case, and it is the one thing that has to be created while the events are happening. Start it on the day you first suspect what is going on, and keep it in a place the other person cannot reach.

• Log every incident on the day it happens: date, time, place, what exactly occurred, who else saw it, and how you responded. Short factual entries are more persuasive than long ones.
• Preserve the original material, not only screenshots. Export chat histories, keep the emails in the mailbox with their headers intact, and save voicemails. A screenshot proves the text; the original proves the sender and the moment.
• Do not delete anything, however unpleasant. Deleted messages that supported your account are hard to explain later, and the volume of contact is itself part of the evidence.
• Collect statements while memories are fresh. Ask witnesses to write down what they saw in their own words, dated and signed. Neighbours, colleagues, receptionists and the parents at the school gate are all relevant witnesses.
• Ask third parties to secure their own records. Employers hold access logs and camera footage for a limited period only, and so do housing associations and shops. A short written request costs nothing and preserves material that would otherwise be overwritten.
• Have the effect documented. A visit to your GP or a psychologist creates a contemporaneous record of the anxiety, sleep problems and other consequences. That record supports both the criminal charge and any claim for compensation.

Recording your own telephone conversations is permitted in the Netherlands when you take part in the conversation yourself; the criminal prohibition on secret recording concerns conversations to which you are not a party. Courts routinely accept such recordings in stalking cases. Recording a conversation between other people, placing tracking software on a phone that is not yours or reading the email of another person is a different matter entirely and can make you the suspect.

Reporting stalking to the police and asking for prosecution

Report the offence as early as the pattern allows. Call 112 if there is immediate danger, and 0900-8844 for the national non-emergency number to arrange an appointment at a police station. Bring your log, a printed selection of the messages and a list of witnesses, and ask for a copy of the statement and its registration number before you leave.

Two things must be on the record. The first is the factual account of the pattern, which is why your log matters. The second is your express wish that the offender be prosecuted, because belaging cannot be prosecuted without it. Ask the officer to read that sentence back to you.

After the report the Public Prosecution Service decides whether to prosecute. As the injured party you have statutory rights under the victims title of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Wetboek van Strafvordering): to be informed of the main decisions in the case, to inspect the file, to add documents to it and to be assisted by a lawyer. If the Public Prosecution Service decides not to prosecute, you can lodge a complaint with the court of appeal under Article 12 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which can order a prosecution to go ahead.

A criminal investigation does not have to end before you are protected. Where there are serious objections against a suspect, the public prosecutor can impose a behavioural direction (gedragsaanwijzing) under Article 509hh of the Code of Criminal Procedure, including a contact ban, an area ban or a duty to report. It applies for a maximum of ninety days and can be extended up to three times. Deliberately breaching it is a separate offence under Article 184a of the Criminal Code, carrying up to one year of imprisonment or a third-category fine. A suspect held in pre-trial detention can also be released on conditions that include a contact ban.

Restraining orders and contact bans: the criminal and civil routes

Dutch law offers two independent ways to obtain a contact ban (contactverbod) and an area ban (straatverbod). They rest on different foundations, they move at different speeds, and choosing between them, or combining them, is one of the main decisions in a stalking file.

The criminal route runs through the Public Prosecution Service and the criminal court. Before trial, protection comes from the behavioural direction under Article 509hh or from conditions attached to a suspension of pre-trial detention. On conviction, Article 38v of the Criminal Code allows the court to impose a freedom-restricting measure: an area ban, a contact ban, an obligation to be at a particular place at particular times, or a duty to report to a designated officer. The measure can be imposed for up to five years and the court can declare it immediately enforceable where there is a serious risk of reoffending. The judgment fixes in advance a period of detention that can be enforced if the measure is breached, and the police can act on a breach without a fresh court hearing.

The civil route runs through the interim relief judge (voorzieningenrechter) of the district court in summary proceedings. The claim is that the systematic harassment is an unlawful act under Article 6:162 of the Civil Code, and the relief sought is an order prohibiting contact and prohibiting the defendant from entering a defined area around your home, work and the school of your children, reinforced by a penalty payment for each breach. Summary proceedings can be heard within weeks, the standard of proof is the civil one rather than the criminal one, and you do not depend on a prosecution decision. The judge weighs your right to be left alone against the freedom of movement of the defendant, so a well-drawn claim defines the area and the duration precisely rather than asking for the maximum.

A civil ban is enforced by the bailiff, who collects the penalty payments that fall due; if the judgment provides for it, the police can also assist in enforcing an area ban. A criminal measure is enforced by the state. In serious cases both are in place at once, which means a single breach can trigger a penalty payment, a criminal charge and the enforcement of the detention held in reserve.

Compensation: your position as an injured party

You do not need to bring a separate civil action to recover your losses. Under Article 51f of the Code of Criminal Procedure you can join the criminal proceedings as an injured party (benadeelde partij) and claim both material damage, such as therapy costs, lost income, new locks or a change of telephone number, and non-material damage for the distress caused. The claim is submitted on a standard form before the hearing and is best prepared with documentary support for every item.

There is one limit worth knowing in advance. The criminal court will only deal with a claim that does not place a disproportionate burden on the criminal proceedings. A well-documented, clearly quantified claim is dealt with; a complex claim that would require its own evidentiary inquiry is declared inadmissible in whole or in part, and you are referred to the civil court, where you can still pursue it under Article 6:162 of the Civil Code.

If the court awards your claim it will normally also impose a compensation measure under Article 36f of the Criminal Code. That shifts collection to the state: the Central Judicial Collection Agency (CJIB) recovers the money from the offender and pays it to you, so you never have to chase the offender yourself. Where the offender does not pay within the statutory period, an advance scheme applies. For violent and sexual offences the state pays out the outstanding amount in full; for other offences the advance is capped at an amount fixed by government regulation. Whether a stalking case falls in the first category depends on what else was charged alongside it.

Separately, the Violent Offences Compensation Fund (Schadefonds Geweldsmisdrijven) can make a one-off payment to victims of a violent offence who have suffered serious injury, including serious psychological injury. Stalking on its own generally falls outside its scope, but a case that also involves assault or a serious threat may qualify. The broader picture of what you can claim after a criminal case is set out in our guide to victims rights in Dutch civil law after a criminal case.

Mistakes that weaken your position, and what to do instead

Most of the damage done to a stalking file is done by the victim, unintentionally, in the first weeks. These are the errors that come up again and again.

• Answering after you have said no. Send one unambiguous message stating that you do not want any contact, preferably by registered post so that receipt is documented, and then say nothing at all. Every later reply, however angry, tells the other person that contact still works.
• Waiting for it to get serious enough. Reporting early gives the police a pattern to work with and keeps you comfortably inside the three-month period for the formal complaint. It also means witnesses are recalling recent events.
• Deleting the messages. Block the sender, but keep the material. Deleting removes the very evidence that shows the frequency of the contact.
• Agreeing to one last conversation. It rarely closes anything and it undermines the account that all contact is unwanted.
• Handling it in public. Posting about the stalker, naming the person or sharing screenshots can expose you to a defamation charge and a civil claim, and it hands the defence an argument about your own conduct. Route everything through the police and your lawyer.
• Assuming one route is enough. A civil ban does not create a criminal file, and a criminal report does not by itself keep the offender away from your street. Decide deliberately which instruments you need.

One further point applies where children are involved. Contact arrangements are frequently used as a legitimate-looking channel for continued harassment. Where that happens, the family court can adjust or restrict the arrangement, and handovers can be moved to a neutral location or a supervised contact centre. Keeping the criminal file and the family file consistent matters here: statements made in one set of proceedings will be read in the other.

Support, safety and legal representation

Practical safety measures work best alongside the legal steps, not instead of them. Vary your routines and routes, tell your employer and your HR department what is happening so that reception and security know who to stop, and ask a small number of people to keep track of where you are. Set your social media accounts to private, tighten your privacy settings, enable two-factor authentication and change passwords the other person may know or be able to guess. Have your phone and laptop checked for tracking software if the other person always seems to know where you are, and remember that under the GDPR you can require platforms and data brokers to remove personal data about you.

Support is available and it is free. Victim Support Netherlands (Slachtofferhulp Nederland, 0900-0101) provides emotional support and practical assistance from the moment you report an offence through to the hearing. Veilig Thuis (0800-2000) is the national advice and reporting point for domestic violence and can be contacted anonymously, including by people who are worried about someone else. Your GP is the right starting point for the psychological consequences, and the record kept there also serves your case. If the pattern includes psychological pressure and manipulation within a relationship, the article on gaslighting as a form of psychological domestic violence explains the remedies available.

Whether you can obtain subsidised legal aid (gesubsidieerde rechtsbijstand) depends on your income and assets, measured against thresholds that the Legal Aid Board (Raad voor Rechtsbijstand) sets and publishes each year. If you qualify you pay only a means-tested contribution. Victims of certain serious offences are entitled to a lawyer free of charge. Ask about this at your first contact rather than assuming the answer.

Law and More acts for people who are being stalked and for people who are wrongly accused of stalking. We assess in a first conversation whether the pattern meets the elements of Article 285b, help you build a file that a prosecutor can work with, accompany you when you report the offence, apply for a contact and area ban in summary proceedings where speed is needed, and present your claim for compensation as an injured party. If you are dealing with unwanted contact that will not stop, contact our office and we will go through the options with you.

Stalking: recognition and legal protection