Prostitution law

The law on legalisation of  running a  prostitution business was introduced in 2000 in order to regulate and control this sphere of economy, and to improve the position of sex workers. This is a national law. The law states that those forms of prostitution in which adult prostitutes are voluntarily engaged are, under certain conditions no longer prohibited. It means that the relevant sections have been deleted from the Dutch Criminal Code (article 250b against the commercial exploitation of prostitution by third persons).

At the same time, stricter penalisation of undesirable forms of prostitution and sexual abuse of minors was introduced. The new section 250a of the Dutch Criminal Code penalises all forms of exploitation of persons in the prostitution sector. The Criminal Code only lifted the ban on brothels and the part of taking economical advantage of prostitution by third persons and substituted the old article by the new definition of pimping and exploitation of involuntary prostitution and underage persons. The regulation of prostitution and the implementation of prostitution policy is the competence of the local city councils.

Regulation of sex work in the Netherlands

The practical implication of the law is that the government drew up guidelines for the local authorities (i.e. municipalities) on of all forms of prostitution and its commercial exploitation in their area or jurisdiction. The municipal authorities have much freedom of choosing the way they want to deal with prostitution but they are not allowed to ban prostitution completely out of their area. They must set the conditions under which prostitution is permitted within their boundaries. Only those establishments that meet these conditions can get the special licences that permit them to start or continue to do their business.

Some of the conditions that the municipalities must set are:

·        the nature and size of brothels: the brothel may not disrupt the residential climate and quality of life of a neighbourhood, no brothel near a church or school.

·        the owner of the brothel cannot have a criminal record

·        hygiene and safety: minimum dimensions of the working area, hot and cold water, presence of condoms, fire safety

·        position and status of sex workers: protection of their physical and mental integrity, no under age prostitutes, no prostitutes without a valid work permit

The municipal authorities appointed special services that are responsible for checking whether these conditions are fulfilled. If the owner does not meet these requirements, his brothel will be closed.

There are no mandatory medical check-ups imposed on sex workers. This policy has been be maintained under the new law and every effort will is being made in order to facilitate the prostitute’s access to voluntary, anonymous and affordable medical services. Until now there is no registration of sex workers, however it is anticipated that in close future all persons working in prostitution will have to be registered at the local municipality prostitution register who upon registration will issue a special permit. Only those who have the permit will be allowed to exercise their profession. This means that all individual sex work that is not registered/licensed (including escort services) will be considered as illegal (prohibited). Next to it, the law proposes the criminalisation of the clients (punished with a prison sentence) who use the services from the non-registered sex workers or from the ones who operate at the illegal location.

The prostitution may take place only in licensed sex work establishments; in principle there is no street prostitution - apart from two or three authorised zones that are accessible for sex workers who are in possession of a special permit.