PENAL CODE of the Democratic Republic of Timor Leste BOOK I GENERAL PART TITLE I APPLICATION OF CRIMINAL LAW SINGLE CHAPTER GENERAL PRINCIPLES Article 1. Principle of legality 1. No act or omission may be qualified as crime unless it was defined as such by law before it was committed, with the respective punishment described. 2. Security measures may only be applied to cases of danger to self and others, with the conditions thereof previously determined by law. Article 2. Prohibition of analogy No act or omission may be qualified as a crime, in defining danger to self and others or in determining the corresponding legal consequences, through the use of analogy. Article 3. Applicability of criminal law over time 1. No person may be punished for an act defined as a crime at the time of its commission if a subsequent law no longer considers it as such. 2. In such a case, if a decision convicting the person has already been rendered, execution of said decision and its penal effects shall cease, even when the decision rendered is final. 3. The law subsequent to the commission of the crime shall apply to previous conduct whenever the same proves to be more lenient to the perpetrator and, in the case of a final decision, if any benefit may still be obtained. Article 4. Exceptional or temporary law Exceptional or temporary law shall remain applicable to acts committed while such law was in force, even though its duration has expired or its determinant circumstances have ceased. Article 5. Time of commission of the act An act is considered as committed at the time of the act or omission, regardless of the time when the typical result occurs. Article 6. Place of commission of the act An act is considered to have been committed in the place where, by any means, the action or omission occurred, wholly or in part, as well in wherever the typical result has or should have been caused. Article 7. Principle of territorial applicability Except as otherwise provided in international treaties and conventions, and regardless of the nationality of the perpetrator Timorese criminal law is applicable to crimes committed in the territory of Timor-Leste and aboard vessels and aircraft with Timorese registration or under Timorese flag. 8