Foreign flags will no longer fly in Denmark starting January 1

The Danish Parliament passed a bill yesterday that will ban the flying of foreign flags starting January 1, 2025. The bill was presented by the government and a broad majority in the Danish Parliament as a follow-up to a resolution adopted on March 12, 2024, regarding the reintroduction of a ban on flying the flags of foreign countries.

Danish Minister of Justice Peter Hummelgaard announced in a written statement that the bill had passed in parliament. Hummelgaard said, "I am pleased that the parliament is reorganizing the rules for flying flags to ensure that, as a general rule in Denmark, only the national flag can be flown."

Emphasizing that the Danish flag is the most important national symbol in the country, Hummelgaard stated, "The flag unites Danes as a people and should have a special status."

In the legal regulation in question, flags of regional or international organizations such as the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU), as well as the flags of Finland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Germany, were excluded from the scope.

Under the new bill, starting from the beginning of the year, citizens, companies, and institutions in the country will be prohibited from flying the flags of other countries, and those who do not comply will be penalized.

Denmark has had certain rules regarding flags for over a century, including a ban on flying the national and regional flags of other countries. In a ruling on a case regarding the flying of the US flag on June 22, 2023, the Supreme Court determined that the existing ban in an executive order dating back to 1915 did not have the necessary legal authority.