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DANISH TRADITIONS

Denmark to introduce new law against flying foreign flags

A new law banning foreign flags from being flown in Denmark without dispensation has been formally proposed.

Published: 26 June 2024 16:10 CEST
Denmark to introduce new law against flying foreign flags
Denmark is to introduce a new law against flying foreign flags from flagpoles. Photo: bjdlzx-GettyImages

Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard has tabled a bill which would make it illegal to fly foreign flags in Denmark under a new law.

Hummelgaard wants the Danish flag to have special status and other flags – such as the Ukrainian flag currently – to only be permitted in extraordinary circumstances.

“Dannebrog [the Danish flag, ed.] is the most important national symbol we have in Denmark. It’s a symbol that ties us together as a nation,” he said in a press statement.

“That’s why I also think that this very special status should mean that we should once again have rules related to flying flags so that it’s not freely permitted to fly other countries’ flags. That’s how it was for more than 100 years and that’s how it should be again,” he said.

The references to “again” having rules against foreign flags refer to a 2023 Supreme Court ruling that a private individual had not breached a century-old directive against flying foreign flags when he displayed the flag of the United States at his home.

In the ruling, the Supreme Court said the directive was closely related to the situation before and during the First World War. It also noted that raising a flag may be protected by free speech rights.

As such, raising foreign nations’ flags in Denmark cannot generally be considered an offence under the directive, it concluded.

That meant the legal basis used for banning foreign flags no longer applied, so parliament revoked the First World War-era directive.

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: Can you fly any flag you want to in Denmark?

A proposal for a new law on the area was expected after a majority in parliament voted in March in favour of a resolution proposing a new ban on flying foreign flags.

The new ban will make it illegal to raise almost all other countries’ flags, including the Stars and Stripes, but will not apply to Nordic flags or the Greenlandic, Faroese or German flags.

Flags that represent regional or international communities will likewise not be banned.

In extraordinary circumstances, the justice minister will be allowed to exempt flags from the ban – as would be the case with Ukraine’s flag currently.

The ban will meanwhile only apply to flying flags from flagpoles, meaning banners and flags at demonstrations or sporting events would not breach the law.

The new law is expected to take effect in 2025.

Member comments

  1. At our family cottage in Canada, we proudly fly the Finnish flag under the Canadian one. It shows heritage and does not compete with love of Canada. I can understand not flying foreign flags from institutions and commercial buildings, but not from private homes.

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For members

DANISH TRADITIONS

Why do the Danes take such long summer holidays?

Summer in Denmark means workplaces emptying for weeks on end and a flood of 'out of office' replies from colleagues and clients taking lengthy vacations. But have you ever wondered exactly how summer holidays of at least three weeks became so entrenched in Danish society?

Published: 2 July 2024 16:19 CEST
Why do the Danes take such long summer holidays?

The word sommerferielukket, meaning ‘closed for summer’ is something you’ll see on signs in hair salons, cafes, shops, libraries, and other businesses throughout July and sometimes beyond.

Denmark’s long summer holidays are written into law: most employers are legally obliged to allow their workers to take three consecutive weeks off in the summer. Naturally many of them jump at the chance, particularly if they have small children, whose børnehave (kindergarten) will also be sommerferielukket.

Some large Danish companies meanwhile halt operations over summer, and small business owners often decide to do the same. Authorities like municipal offices can also shut down non-essential services.

This all adds up to a strange feeling of emptiness in the bigger cities in July in particular, as those who haven’t gone abroad will often head to their rural summer houses. And the summer closures can be frustrating to those who aren’t used to the system, especially since they coincide with the tourist season.

All the same, it’s good to be aware of the custom so you don’t get caught out when that restaurant or shop you really wanted to visit is closed for the rest of the month.

READ ALSO: Five Danish phrases you only hear in summer

History

The right to take a long summer holiday that we take for granted today, did not come to Denmark until 1938. 

During the first half of the 20th century, as the agricultural sector diminished, an increase in young people who were finishing school, moved from the countryside to larger cities to find work. The new workers formed trade unions, which, among other things, fought for reduced working hours and later for the right to a holiday.

In 1919, the trade unions succeeded in getting working hours reduced to 50.5 hours a week with Sundays off. Then in 1938 they got the first holiday law passed (ferieloven). The holiday law gave all Danes the right to two weeks’ holiday a year. 

The law progressed into the creation of the organisation, ‘People’s Holiday’ (Folkeferie), which was formed to support and provide holiday opportunities for workers, so they had somewhere to go on holiday. During the 1960s and 1970s Danes then started building their own summer houses, as the welfare state grew.

The trade unions continued to negotiate during the following decades and in 1979, there was an agreement to five weeks of holiday. A major revision of the holiday law soon followed, so that all Danes were not only given the right, but also the duty, to take five weeks’ holiday. 

A new holiday act was passed in 2018 and implemented in September 2020, around a new concept of concurrent holidays. This allows employees to earn 2.08 holiday days each month, which they have access to use immediately, as opposed to the old scheme where workers earned holiday days for the following year.

READ ALSO: What are the rules for taking annual leave in Denmark?

The Danish Holiday Act (Ferieloven)

The Danish Holiday Act covers most salaried employees for five standard weeks (normally 25 days) of paid vacation. Holiday earned during a given month can be used from the very next month, in a rule referred to as concurrent holiday (samtidighedsferie). You can check how much holiday you have accrued and are therefore entitled to take at a given time by logging in to the relevant section of the borger.dk portal.

The vacation year is broken down so that there is a “main holiday period” (hovedferie in Danish) which starts on May 1st and ends on September 30th. During this time, you are entitled to take three weeks’ consecutive vacation out of your five weeks.

A lot of people take three weeks in a row while others break it up – which is why you often hear Danish people who work full time wishing each other a “good summer holiday” as if it’s the end of the school term.

Outside of the main holiday period, the remaining 10 days of vacation, termed øvrig ferie in Danish, can be taken whenever you like. You can take up to five days together but may also use the days individually.

If your employer wants to decide when you should take any of your vacation days, they have to let you know at least three months in advance for the main holiday, or one month in advance for remaining holiday, except for exceptional circumstances.

If you have not earned paid vacation, you still have the right to take unpaid holiday. However, people whose right to work in Denmark is dependent on a sponsored visa or other form of work permit should check whether their visa allows them to take unpaid leave, since this may not be the case.

READ ALSO: Feriepenge: Denmark’s vacation pay rules explained

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