French lawmkers on Wednesday adopted a bill defining rape as any non-consensual sexual act, making the country the latest European nation to pass a consent-based law.

The penal code will now enshrine the principle of consent into the definition of the crime of rape, after France's Senate backed the measure in the final vote of a lengthy legislative process.

The text signals a move "from a culture of rape to a culture of consent", centrist lawmaker Veronique Riotton said after the bill, which she co-sponsored, passed the lower house last week.

Consent, the text says, must be "free and informed, specific, prior and revocable", and evaluated according to the circumstances, noting that it cannot be inferred from "silence or lack of reaction".

"There is no consent if the sexual act is commi

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