Article 16: The criminal law is of strict application.
The application by analogy of a criminal provision to an act it was not intended to sanction shall
be prohibited.
Article 17: The criminal law applies equally to all.
However, the distinctions allowed are those provided for by the law and which are based, in
particular, on the immunities under public law, the gravity of the offence and the fault, the age or
the special status of the offender and his threat to the society.
Article 18: Is a minor any person under the age of eighteen at the time the offence was
committed.
Minors of ten, thirteen and sixteen years of age are those who have not reached these ages at the
time of the commission of the offense.
CHAPTER 1: TERROTORIAL APPLICATION OF CRIMINAL LAW
Article 19: The criminal law applies to all offenses committed on the territory of the Republic,
which includes:
1°) the land space within the borders of the Republic;
2°) its territorial waters;
3°) the air space above the land territory and territorial waters;
4°) ships and aircraft registered in Côte d'Ivoire.
No crew member or passenger of a foreign ship or aircraft who commits an offence on board to
the detriment of another crew member or passenger within the territorial waters or air space of
Côte d'Ivoire shall be tried by the courts of Côte d'Ivoire except in the following cases:
1°) the intervention of the Ivorian authorities has been requested;
2°) the offence has threatened public order;
3°) the offender or victim of the offence is Ivorian.
Article 20: Criminal law shall apply to offenses committed partially or totally abroad, under the
conditions provided for by the Criminal Procedure Code.
Criminal law also applies to any felony or misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment, committed
outside the territory of the Republic when a victim is of Ivorian nationality at the time the
offense is committed.
Article 21: The offence shall be deemed to have been committed:
1°) in the place where the act that constitutes it is committed;
2°) in any of the places where one of its constitutive elements is carried
out;
3°) in the various places where the commission of the act is extended or repeated;