Denmark bans most foreign flags from 2025

The Danish Parliament has adopted a law, effective January 1, 2025, prohibiting the use of most foreign flags on flagpoles. According to the Justice Ministry, exceptions include the flags of Finland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Germany, international, and regional unions like the UN and the European Flags. Special permits can be granted by the police, and the Justice Minister can make exceptions in extraordinary cases, as has been done with the Ukrainian flag. Pirate, rainbow, and various logo flags are still allowed, as is the right of diplomatic missions to fly their own flags. The move reinforces the special status of the Danish flag, Dannebrog, as a symbol of national unity. Violations will be met with fines. The change comes after a Supreme Court ruling in June 2023 deemed flagging with the American flag legal, prompting the reinstatement of a prior ban that was over a century old.