Chapter 4 – Grounds for exemption from liability

Section 5 - Necessity

(1) An act other than that referred to above in section 4, necessary to ward off an immediate and compelling threat to a legally protected interest, is permissible as an act of necessity if the act when assessed as a whole is justifiable, taking into account the nature and extent of the interest to be rescued and the damage and detriment caused by the act, the origin of the danger and the other circumstances.

(2) If the act committed in order to rescue a legally protected interest is not to be deemed permissible pursuant to subsection 1, the perpetrator is nonetheless free from criminal liability if the perpetrator could not reasonably have been expected to have acted otherwise, taking into account the importance of the interest to be rescued, the unexpected and compelling nature of the situation and the other circumstances.