Spain’s lower house of parliament passed legislation on Thursday requiring explicit consent for sex rather than consent that might be inferred from silence or by default.
The legislation was passed on Thursday with 205 lawmakers voting in favour and 141 against.
The law “Only Yes means Yes”, defines rape as sex without clear consent.
“Consent is recognised only when a person has freely demonstrated it through actions which, in the context of the circumstances of the case, clearly express the person’s will,” says the law.
The new law also sets fines for street harassment and for sharing intimate images and videos of a person without their consent.
It was proposed by the country’s Socialist government after the high-profile “Wolfpack” gang-rape incident in Pamplona in 2016 prompted widespread protests.
An 18-year-old woman was gang-raped by five men at the bull-running festival in Pamplona, northern Spain.
In court, it was argued that video footage from the men’s phones, which showed the woman motionless and with her eyes closed during the attack, was proof of her consent.
The men were convicted guilty of sexual abuse but not of rape because the woman was unable to prove that she had not given consent.
