forgery crime
Use of a false document to mislead in legal relations, Penal Code §§ 171–172.
Forgery crime — under Danish law primarily termed document forgery (dokumentfalsk) — is a criminal offence consisting of knowingly using a false document in order to mislead others in legal relations. The provision appears in the Danish Penal Code (straffeloven) § 171, while the sentencing range is set out in § 172. A document is regarded as false in two situations: either when it does not genuinely originate from the person or body named as its issuer, or when its content has been altered so that it no longer corresponds to what the issuer actually expressed. The law covers both written and electronic declarations, provided that they name an issuer and appear to be intended to serve as evidence.
The central description of the offence in § 171 requires that the perpetrator uses the false document — it is thus the use for deceptive purposes that constitutes the punishable element, not necessarily the production of the document taken in isolation. The penalty for document forgery is a fine or imprisonment for up to 2 years. Where the matter is of a particularly serious character, or where a larger number of violations is involved, the penalty may rise to imprisonment for up to 6 years.
In practice, forgery crime arises in many contexts, including the forgery of identity documents, contracts, signatures and digital certificates. Cases are heard by the ordinary courts and may be combined with charges of, for example, fraud, when the forgery forms part of a broader criminal scheme.
