Iceland Defamation Laws: Civil, Criminal & Defences

In Iceland, defamation is both a crime and a civil wrong. The General Penal Code (almenn hegningarlog) No. 19/1940 still criminalises insult and defamation in Articles 234 to 237, while a person whose reputation is harmed can also sue for compensation under the Tort Damages Act. A 2021 reform modernised the honour and privacy chapter without abolishing criminal defamation.

Is defamation civil, criminal, or both in Iceland?

It is both. Iceland is one of the European countries that retains criminal defamation. Chapter XXV of the General Penal Code (almenn hegningarlog) No. 19/1940, headed defamation and offences against the inviolability of private life, contains the criminal honour offences in Articles 234 to 237. At the same time, a person whose reputation has been damaged can bring a civil claim for compensation, with non-pecuniary (moral) damages available under Article 26 of the Tort Damages Act No. 50/1993. In practice the two often run together: an injured person can bring a private criminal prosecution and join a civil claim for damages. International monitors, including Freedom House, confirm that defamation and insult remained criminal offences in Iceland as of recent reporting, despite recommendations from the UN Human Rights Committee to decriminalise.

What did the 2021 reform change?

The 2021 reform modernised the chapter without decriminalising defamation. Act No. 8/2021, enacted on 22 February 2021, amended Chapter XXV of the General Penal Code, which houses both the honour offences and the privacy offences. Its central change was to strengthen protection of private life and sexual privacy, including a new offence for preparing, obtaining, distributing, or publishing intimate images of another person without consent, carrying imprisonment of up to four years. The reform revised related privacy provisions and updated cross-references in the chapter. It did not repeal the defamation offences in Articles 234 to 237, so criminal defamation remains part of Icelandic law after 2021.

Watch out: The 2021 reform is sometimes summarised as a defamation overhaul. It revised the honour and privacy chapter and added privacy offences, but Iceland did not decriminalise ordinary defamation.

What do Articles 234 to 237 say, and what are the penalties?

The offences are graded by seriousness. Article 234 makes it an offence to injure another person's honour by insult in words or conduct, and to spread such an insult, punishable by a fine or imprisonment for up to one year. Article 235 covers alleging or imputing something to another person that would damage their honour, or spreading such an allegation, also punishable by a fine or imprisonment for up to one year. Article 236 addresses the more serious case of a defamatory allegation made or spread against the speaker's better knowledge, or made publicly when the speaker had no reason to believe it true, punishable by a fine or imprisonment for up to two years. Article 237 covers reproaching someone in an offensive manner without alleging specific facts. State penalty figures should be read as statutory maxima.

What defences and privileges apply?

Truth is the principal defence, supported by good faith and privilege. A person who proves that a factual allegation is true generally avoids liability, and Article 236 itself turns on the speaker's knowledge and basis for an allegation, so a careful, well-founded statement is treated very differently from a reckless or knowingly false one. Fair comment and statements made in good faith on matters of public interest, together with privileged communications such as statements in legal proceedings, also provide protection. Because Iceland is bound by the European Convention on Human Rights, its courts must protect value judgments and allow wider criticism of public figures, as the European Court of Human Rights has emphasised in Icelandic cases. These principles temper the criminal provisions in practice.

What remedies, damages, and limitation periods apply?

Remedies span the criminal and civil tracks. In a criminal case, a court can impose the statutory fine or imprisonment and can declare defamatory statements null and void (dead and void), a traditional Icelandic remedy. The injured person can also recover non-pecuniary (moral) compensation under Article 26 of the Tort Damages Act No. 50/1993, which is the usual route to a money award for reputational harm, with the amount assessed by the court rather than fixed by statute. On limitation, the right to prosecute the honour offences is subject to the Penal Code's limitation rules, and commentary indicates a relatively short period for libel offences; a civil compensation claim is subject to the ordinary limitation rules for damages. Because these periods can be short and fact-specific, the applicable limit should be checked against the current statutes for any particular dispute.

How is online defamation treated, and how do you bring a claim?

Online statements are treated like any other publication. A defamatory post, comment, or article online can be prosecuted under Articles 234 to 237 and can ground a civil claim for compensation, as illustrated by the European Court of Human Rights case Egill Einarsson v. Iceland, which concerned defamatory material on social media and the balance between reputation and free expression. Criminal defamation in Iceland is generally pursued by private prosecution: the injured person, rather than the public prosecutor, brings the case before the District Court, and can join a civil claim for damages in the same proceedings. A purely civil claim for compensation can also be filed in the District Court under the Tort Damages Act. This is general information about Icelandic law, not legal advice for any specific dispute.