Germany’s Bundestag voted on 6 November 2026 to raise the minimum prison sentence for covered sexual offences and robberies committed using dangerous substances such as spiking drugs. The minimum would be five years in those cases. The existing minimum is three years in certain sexual assault cases of this kind. The federal government confirmed the Bundestag’s vote. The bill now goes to the Bundesrat, which represents Germany’s states.
Key facts
- The Bundestag voted to amend sections 177 and 250 of the Criminal Code.
- The provisions carrying a five-year minimum would expressly cover dangerous means, including spiking drugs.
- The Bundesrat can call for mediation. The bill does not require its consent, according to Deutsches Ärzteblatt.
Why does the distinction between a tool and a substance matter?
The bill follows a Federal Court of Justice ruling of 8 October 2024. In that case, the defendant had used a pipette to put a liquid into a drink. The court held that the liquid did not qualify as a dangerous tool under the relevant provision. Nor did the pipette qualify in that case. It had been used to measure out the substance without acting directly on the victim’s body. The court set aside the relevant part of the judgment and the combined sentence and sent that part of the case back for a new hearing.
The distinction affects the sentencing range. The Bundestag’s account of the committee proceedings says the existing provision applied to sexual assaults of this kind, section 177(7)(2), carries a three-year minimum. The Bundestag has voted to add dangerous means alongside weapons and dangerous tools in sections 177(8)(1) and 250(2)(1). The text covers more than one particular drug. The federal government says other poisons may fall under the wording as well.
How would the bill apply when an offence unfolds in stages?
The legal affairs committee revised the language for sexual offences. The provision would expressly refer to offences covered by paragraphs 1 to 7 of section 177. The change is meant to cover cases in which time passes between the administration of a substance and a later sexual act. The Bundesrat had warned about difficulties in interpreting the initial wording and suggested a different formulation focused on administering the substance to carry out the offence.
The governing parties argued that the effects of the substance could persist and be exploited in a later assault. The committee account also identifies a different situation. If the person has yet to begin attempting the sexual offence under criminal law, administering the substance may instead constitute aggravated bodily harm. Whether the five-year minimum applies would still turn on the offence the court finds and on the connection it establishes between the substance and that offence.
The federal government gives no reliable count of sexual offences committed using these substances. It says the prosecution statistics it cites do not identify the means used in a sexual assault. Those figures therefore do not show how many cases involving spiking drugs would fall within the change.
What still has to happen before the changes take effect?
According to Deutsches Ärzteblatt, the CDU and CSU, the Social Democrats, the Greens and The Left supported the bill in the Bundestag. The Alternative for Germany abstained. The Bundesrat can now refer the text to the mediation committee. Its earlier comments concerned the draft, while the next stage concerns the version amended by the Bundestag. The government’s announcement of the vote gave no date for the changes to take effect.
