A question of knife legality in Europe

Since April this year it is forbidden to carry any folding knife that can be opened with one hand and any knife with a fixed blade or a folding knife whose blade can be fixed with a length of more than 12 cm. It is forbidden to carry a knife that is designed to be opened with one hand (for example a CRKT with Carson Flipper, a Spyderco with that hole for fast opening or so..) regardless of its size!!! 12cm count only for fixed blades or knives which must be opened with both hands and whose blades can be fixed.
BUT there are exeptions for hunting, also if you need your knife for your profession AND for camping and so on.... So it is not likely that you will have problems as a backpacker. This new law is total BS. Most citizens doesn´t even know about this and the huge stores here like Aldi, Lidl, Plus (equivalent to walmart ) recently sold those knives without any advice....
You will not be thrown behind bars for carrying such a knife with you anyway, but they will confiscate it and you may have to pay for it...
But, as mentioned, there is an exeption which i think would apply to backpackers.

P.S.: AND NEVER NEVER NEVER say you carry a knife for self-defense here... THAT is - unfortunately enough- not a sufficient reason for our lawmakers...

I live in the Netherlands so I can tell you about the law there. It's pretty strict.

In the Netherlands you are not allowed to defend yourself with a knife unless you are threated with a knife or a gun (something just as dangerous). If somebody attacks you with bare fists, and you defend yourself with a knife it's considered as defense out of proportions, which is a felony offence. Also just drawing a knife when you're not attacked, just threatened or not threatend at all is illegal.

You are not allowed to carry a knife for self defence. It is allowed to carry it as a tool and not as a weapon. It's considered a weapon if you carry it in a situation where it can be used for nothing but as a weapon. (So if you carry a knife at work, its allowed because it can be used as a tool. But you can't carry it in a pub, because there it can be used as a weapon only.)

Now there is a diffirence between carrying and possession. Above I used the word carry all the time. You carry a knife when you have it on your body ready to be used. If you have it in your rucksack or backpack, not ready to draw and use it's not considered 'carry' but 'possession'. So if you have a knife in your backpack and not ready for use immediately, it's legal. So when you go to a pub it's better to put in away in your rucksack, instead of having it on your body.

There are many laws about what is illegal. I think it's the best if I say what you can have (instead of what you can't have, that's a lot more ) You are allowed to have a folding knife that has only one sharp side and when folded, doesn't exceed a length of 28cm (that's when folded, not extended). For fixed blades there is no size limit. For folding knifes that have a spring in it, or something that opens automatically, there are other stricter laws.

This is basicly the law about knifes in the Netherlands. In the other countries you mentioned it might be diffirent. If you have any more questions, just ask.

In France knives are under the arme blanche category and theoretically there needs to be legitimate reason (being in the outdoors) accompanied by a hunters or fishing permit. Urban carry or carry for defence isn't allowed expressly. Yet the law here makes reference to bayonets, butterflies, extendable rods and other military/police weapons specifically. However smaller knives without a blocking mechanism are actively ignored. Equally, lock penknives are nothing, people have them on keyrings. The laws on the 6th catagory are not clear and the police, gendarmerie and customs all interpret them differently as legal cases have shown. Normally it boils down to whether the knife only has a lethal use and if the carrier is a scoundrel. Basically a small discreet knife without a lock is alright in France, if you want down to earth advise, but just don't cross a border with it, take it out in a city hotel or on a train. How any clean person is caught with a knife I couldn't understand. I met lots of knife carrying people in hostels and I'm sure there were more but just didn't know about they carried. In france you aren't going to be stop searched for nothing in the street, there's no need for those sorts of policies as people aren't getting knived to the same extent as countries with strict knife policy.