Paying for sex is legal in most of Europe. What differs, country by country, is everything around it: whether she may work indoors, whether two of them may share a flat, whether the client commits an offence, and whether anybody may organise it. Those four questions are what the table below answers.
This is a summary of the position as it stands, not legal advice, and law in this area changes. Where a country is a link, the network has a site for it with the local detail.
| Country | In one line |
|---|---|
| Germany | Sex work is legal in Germany and has been regulated since the Prostitutionsschutzgesetz of 2017. |
| Austria | Sex work is legal in Austria and regulated at the level of each federal state, which is why the rules in Vienna are not the rules in Salzburg. |
| Switzerland | Switzerland has some of the oldest legal sex work in Europe: legal since 1942, regulated canton by canton. |
| Netherlands | The Netherlands legalised and licensed sex work in 2000, and it is treated as a regulated profession: a licence for the premises, registration with the Chamber |
| Belgium | Belgium decriminalised sex work in 2022 and went further in 2024 than any country in Europe: sex workers can now sign an employment contract, with the right to |
| United Kingdom | In England and Wales, selling and buying sex between adults is legal. |
| France | France inverted the usual arrangement in 2016: selling sex is legal, buying it is not. |
| Monaco | Monaco has no law legalising or licensing sex work, and the Principality polices its public space more closely than anywhere else on the coast. |
| Spain | Spain is the largest legal grey zone in Europe. |
| Portugal | Portugal decriminalised sex work in 1983 and never regulated it. |
| Italy | Italy closed its licensed houses with the Legge Merlin in 1958 and has left the trade unregulated ever since. |
| Greece | Greece legalised and licensed sex work in 1999, on paper. |
| Cyprus | Cyprus treats sex work itself as lawful between adults but criminalises the entire structure around it: brothels, procuring, advertising and living on the earni |
| Serbia | Serbia is one of the stricter countries in the region: prostitution is a misdemeanour for the woman and, since 2016, also for the client, punishable by a fine o |
| Croatia | Croatia treats sex work as a misdemeanour on both sides: offering it and buying it are both punishable by fine, and organising or profiting from it is a crimina |
| Slovenia | Slovenia decriminalised sex work in 2003. |
| United Arab Emirates | This is the part that matters more here than anywhere else on this network: sex outside marriage and any commercial sexual activity are criminal offences in the |
Country by country
Germany
Sex work is legal in Germany and has been regulated since the Prostitutionsschutzgesetz of 2017. A woman working legally holds a registration certificate - the Anmeldebescheinigung, usually called the Hurenpass - and has attended a health counselling appointment. Buying is legal. What is not legal, and is prosecuted hard, is paying for sex with anyone under 18, with anyone who has been coerced or trafficked, or without a condom where the state or city forbids it. Several German cities also run Sperrbezirke, zones where street work is banned by ordinance and where the fine lands on both parties.
Austria
Sex work is legal in Austria and regulated at the level of each federal state, which is why the rules in Vienna are not the rules in Salzburg. A woman working legally is registered with the police, carries a Deckkarte and attends a compulsory health check roughly every six weeks. Buying is legal. Anyone under 18 is not, coercion is not, and street work outside the permitted zones and hours is an administrative offence for both parties.
Switzerland
Switzerland has some of the oldest legal sex work in Europe: legal since 1942, regulated canton by canton. In Zurich a woman must register with the city and hold a permit; the canton also runs designated zones and hours. Buying is legal from 18. Paying anyone under 18 is a criminal offence even though the general age of consent is lower, and coercion or trafficking carries heavy sentences. Prices in Switzerland are the highest in Europe and the enforcement is orderly rather than dramatic.
Netherlands
The Netherlands legalised and licensed sex work in 2000, and it is treated as a regulated profession: a licence for the premises, registration with the Chamber of Commerce, tax like any other self-employed person. Buying is legal from 18. What is criminal is paying for sex with a minor, and - since the law was tightened - knowingly using a woman who has been coerced. Every city licenses independently, so what is permitted in Amsterdam is not automatically permitted in Rotterdam, and window work in particular is capped, zoned and shrinking.
Belgium
Belgium decriminalised sex work in 2022 and went further in 2024 than any country in Europe: sex workers can now sign an employment contract, with the right to refuse a client, to stop an act and to social security. Buying is legal from 18. Pimping in the exploitative sense remains a crime, as does any payment to a minor. Rules on windows, bars and street work are municipal, and Brussels, Antwerp and Liège each write their own.
United Kingdom
In England and Wales, selling and buying sex between adults is legal. Almost everything around it is not: running a brothel - which legally means two or more women working from the same premises - is an offence, as is kerb-crawling, soliciting in a public place, and controlling another person's work for gain. This is why independent, one-woman flats are the norm here and why anything advertised as a "house" is a legal risk to everyone in it. Paying for sex with someone who has been coerced is a strict-liability offence: not knowing is not a defence.
France
France inverted the usual arrangement in 2016: selling sex is legal, buying it is not. Paying for a sexual act is a criminal offence, punished by a fine of up to €1,500 for a first offence and €3,750 on repetition, sometimes with an awareness course attached. The law was challenged and upheld by the European Court of Human Rights in 2024, so it is settled. Soliciting is no longer an offence for the woman; pimping and any payment to a minor carry serious sentences.
Monaco
Monaco has no law legalising or licensing sex work, and the Principality polices its public space more closely than anywhere else on the coast. Nothing happens on a street here. What exists is private, arranged in advance and conducted indoors, and the one rule that matters is that a hotel of this standard will notice anything that looks like commerce in its lobby. Neighbouring France, ten minutes away, criminalises the buyer.
Spain
Spain is the largest legal grey zone in Europe. Sex work is neither legalised nor criminalised: the exchange between two adults is not an offence, but nothing regulates it either, so there are no licences, no registration and no health scheme. Pimping and any profit from another person's work is a crime, and so is paying anyone under 18. Street work is banned by municipal ordinance in most large cities, with fines that fall on the client. Proposals to criminalise buying have been debated repeatedly and, as things stand, have not become law.
Portugal
Portugal decriminalised sex work in 1983 and never regulated it. Selling and buying between adults are both lawful; there is no register, no licence and no mandatory health check. What is criminal is living off someone else's work, running or profiting from a premises, and any payment to a minor. In practice this means Portugal is quiet, private and almost entirely indoors - and that a "house" advertising several women is exactly the arrangement the law prosecutes.
Italy
Italy closed its licensed houses with the Legge Merlin in 1958 and has left the trade unregulated ever since. Selling and buying between adults are not offences. Everything organised around it is: a brothel, an apartment shared by two women, anyone taking a share, anyone advertising on another's behalf. Street work is restricted by municipal ordinance in most cities, with fines for the client, and several mayors enforce it in waves. Any payment to someone under 18 is a serious crime.
Greece
Greece legalised and licensed sex work in 1999, on paper. A woman working lawfully needs a permit from the municipality, a registered premises at a set distance from schools and churches, an unmarried civil status and a health card stamped every two weeks. The requirements are strict enough that the overwhelming majority of the trade operates outside them. Buying from an adult is legal; anyone under 18 and anyone coerced is a serious offence.
Cyprus
Cyprus treats sex work itself as lawful between adults but criminalises the entire structure around it: brothels, procuring, advertising and living on the earnings. The country has spent two decades under international pressure over trafficking through so-called artiste visas, and enforcement is focused there. Buying from an adult is not an offence. Buying from someone who has been trafficked is, whether or not you knew.
Serbia
Serbia is one of the stricter countries in the region: prostitution is a misdemeanour for the woman and, since 2016, also for the client, punishable by a fine or up to thirty days in detention. Organising it is a criminal offence with prison time. Enforcement is uneven and concentrated in public places, but a client is legally exposed here in a way he is not in most of Western Europe.
Croatia
Croatia treats sex work as a misdemeanour on both sides: offering it and buying it are both punishable by fine, and organising or profiting from it is a criminal offence with prison time. Reform has been discussed for years and has not arrived. Enforcement concentrates on visible, advertised and street activity, particularly along the coast in summer, and a client caught in a public setting is fined like anyone else.
Slovenia
Slovenia decriminalised sex work in 2003. Selling and buying between adults are not offences and there is no register or licence. Organising, mediating or profiting from another person's work remains criminal, as does any payment to a minor. The result is a small, private, almost invisible market - and a legal position considerably calmer than in either of Slovenia's eastern neighbours.
United Arab Emirates
This is the part that matters more here than anywhere else on this network: sex outside marriage and any commercial sexual activity are criminal offences in the United Arab Emirates, for both parties, and the penalties include imprisonment, fines and deportation for non-citizens. Enforcement is real and is not limited to public space. Nothing on this page, and nothing on this site, should be read as suggesting otherwise. If you are in the UAE, the only sensible reading of the law is the literal one.
The four models, in plain terms
Regulated. The work is recognised, registration or licensing exists, and businesses around it are legal within rules. Germany and the Netherlands are the clearest examples.
Decriminalised in practice. Selling is not an offence and neither is buying, but organising is, so nothing formal exists around it. Spain and Italy sit here in different ways.
Client criminalised. Selling is lawful, buying is an offence. France is the model case in Europe.
Prohibited. Both sides are an offence, with penalties that can be severe. The Emirates is the example on this list.
The practical consequence of the third model is the one people miss: it does not make the work stop, it makes it quieter, and quieter is worse for the person doing it because screening a client becomes harder when the client is committing a crime by talking to her.