Prostitution laws in BelgiumBelgië / Belgique / Belgien

The law of 21 March 2022 repealed, among others, articles 379, 380, 380bis, 380ter, 381, 382 and 382bis of the 1867 Criminal Code (art. 117 of the 2022 law) and inserted a new chapter 'De l'abus de la prostitution' (arts. 433quater/1 to 433quater/8; a law of 30 July 2022 added confiscation as 433quater/8 and the evaluation article became 433quater/9). Since 1 September 2026 the same offences are in articles 265 to 272 of the new Criminal Code. The preparatory works describe prostitution as a matter of personal freedom, so long as it is exercised freely (Hausman 2023). Any third-party involvement in the prostitution of a minor (recruiting, exploiting, paying, advertising) remains a serious offence under arts. 152–168.

Sex workers may work self-employed. Since 1 December 2024 they may also work as employees of a recognised employer (see brothels and tax).

None of the prostitution offences in the 2022 chapter (now arts. 265–272 of the new Criminal Code) targets clients of adult sex workers. Clients can still commit general offences, such as non-consensual sexual acts, or take part as co-offenders in trafficking or procuring.

Criminal Code. Article 265 of the new Code (formerly art. 433quater/1) defines procuring as three acts committed against an adult:

• organising another person's prostitution for an advantage, except where the law provides otherwise;
• promoting, inciting, encouraging or facilitating prostitution to obtain an abnormal economic or other advantage;
• taking measures to prevent or hinder someone from leaving prostitution.

It carries a level-3 penalty (more than 3 to 5 years' imprisonment), and the judge may add a fine of €200 to €200,000 per victim (€200 to €40,000 for attempt). Before 1 September 2026 the penalty was 1 to 5 years and €500 to €25,000. Fine amounts in the Code are nominal: courts add the statutory décimes additionnels, which multiply them by 1.25 from 1 September 2026. Abuse of a person made vulnerable by an illegal or precarious residence or social situation, age, pregnancy, illness or disability is aggravated (art. 268, level 4: more than 5 to 10 years). The 2024 text also let courts close the establishment for 1 month to 3 years (art. 269), but the law of 16 March 2026 repealed that article before the Code took effect; Justel's consolidated Book II still prints it. Closure now needs a basis in law under Book I art. 59. Commentators note the 'abnormal advantage' test targets, among others, landlords who charge excessive rents (Hausman 2023), and the city of Antwerp warns landlords that charging sex workers higher rents is an offence.

Recognised employers (law of 3 May 2024). Under art. 12, a recognised employer who employs sex workers in line with the law and its decrees does not commit procuring under art. 265, first indent. Conditions (arts. 14 and 17):

• the employer is a private limited company (SRL/BV, not a single-member one), a cooperative or a non-profit association (ASBL/VZW), with a seat in Belgium; natural persons cannot be recognised;
• directors and managers have no conviction for listed sexual, trafficking, violence, theft or fraud offences;
• a reference person is available throughout working hours;
• every room has an emergency button, and workers outside the premises carry a mobile one;
• independent socio-medical organisations and unions have access to the premises;
• the employer may not subcontract its authority.

The Ministers of Justice and Work grant recognition jointly after consulting the public prosecutor and the labour prosecutor. VRT NWS reported that recognitions are published in the Moniteur belge. Workers fall under joint committee 302 (hotel industry). Students, flexi-jobs, occasional work and temporary agency placement are excluded. Workers may refuse any client or act at any time without loss of pay, and may leave without notice. Breaches are punished under the Social Penal Code, for example a level-4 sanction for employing a minor (arts. 20–25 of the 2024 law).

Local rules. Municipalities regulate venues through police regulations, zoning and taxes (see subnational).

Belgian law has no specific rule on sex workers sharing a flat or a window building, so this entry is an inference from the elements of art. 265 (see brothels). An arrangement in which one worker organises the others' work for profit, or takes an abnormal share, could fall within the offence. In Antwerp, prostitution from homes is tolerated only where the worker also lives in the premises and causes no nuisance. Window buildings need a city suitability declaration.

See brothels for the full text of art. 265 and the employer exception. Before 1 September 2026 the same conduct was art. 433quater/1 of the 1867 Code: 1 to 5 years' imprisonment and a fine of €500 to €25,000, applied once per victim. Attempt is punishable. The 'abnormal advantage' element is a special intent. Commentators read it as allowing third parties a benefit substantially equivalent to the service they provide, and no more (Hausman 2023). Under the new Code, art. 265 applies 'without prejudice to' the trafficking offence in art. 258 (formerly art. 433quinquies). Conduct involving minors falls under separate child-exploitation offences (arts. 152 ff.).

The offence (art. 266 Code pénal 2024, formerly art. 433quater/2). 'Advertising for prostitution' covers three things:

• deliberately making, publishing, distributing or spreading advertising, directly or indirectly, for an offer of sexual services by an adult, even when disguised in coded language;
• making known by any means of advertising that an adult engages in prostitution;
• facilitating an adult's prostitution by any means of advertising.

It is prohibited, except:

1. for an adult advertising their own sexual services behind a window in a place specifically intended for prostitution;
2. for an adult placing advertising for their own sexual services on an internet platform or other medium, or part of a medium, specifically intended for that purpose;
3. for the provider of such a dedicated platform or medium that carries advertising for sexual services, or for a venue offering them, if it takes measures to protect sex workers and prevent abuse and trafficking, reports possible abuse or exploitation to the police or judicial authorities immediately, and complies with the conditions set by the King (royal decree of 18 May 2024; see platforms).

What stays illegal. Advertising someone else's services outside these exceptions remains an offence. According to the report to the King accompanying the 2024 decree, a third party such as a brothel manager may lawfully advertise the services of the sex workers in its establishment on a dedicated platform or press section that complies with the decree. A private individual's ad for someone else's services on a non-dedicated site, such as a social network, falls under the general ban and can be prosecuted. Advertising in non-dedicated media or outside a dedicated section, such as general press pages or street advertising, is not covered by the exceptions. A section of a newspaper or online service devoted to prostitution ads does qualify (decree art. 1, 2°). The city of Antwerp reads the law as excluding ads visible to minors or to people who do not want to see them. Separately, public incitement of an adult to prostitute themselves, through advertising or in public, is an offence (art. 267, level 1). Advertising aimed at minors, or for services by a minor or someone presented as one, is a separate and heavier offence (art. 166).

Penalty change. Under the 1867 Code the advertising offence carried 1 month to 1 year's imprisonment and a fine of €100 to €1,000. The new Code makes it a level-1 offence. Imprisonment is not available as a principal penalty at that level, which consists of a fine of €200 to €20,000, a work penalty of 20 to 120 hours, probation of 6 to 12 months, confiscation, or a declaration of guilt (art. 36 Book I). Fine amounts are nominal (see brothels on décimes additionnels). The new text also adds the word 'deliberately' (délibérément) to each limb.

Social media. The report to the King says that a private individual who posts an ad for their own services on a non-dedicated site, such as a social network or messaging service, falls outside the decree and that such an ad 'is legal' under the second exception. This sits uneasily with the statutory wording, which requires a medium 'specifically intended' for the purpose.

Scope. The royal decree of 18 May 2024 (Moniteur belge 13 June 2024; notified to the European Commission under Directive (EU) 2015/1535 on 6 February 2024) covers free and paid ads. It applies to 'providers', meaning undertakings within the meaning of art. I.1 of the Code of Economic Law. A self-employed natural person running a site can be one. The decree applies to providers established in Belgium and to foreign providers whose ads target a public specifically in Belgium, wherever the services are offered. According to the report to the King, mere accessibility of a site is not enough to show targeting. A .be domain, the use of a Belgian official language, or Belgian advertisers may show it. A pure storage or cloud provider with no contractual relationship with the advertiser is outside scope.

Obligations:

• Before publication, verify the advertiser's identity and age (identity document plus a same-day face photo, which must then be destroyed), the phone number and, if available, the e-mail address. Refuse the ad if doubts remain (art. 3).
• Give advertisers information on safety, sexually transmitted infections, safe practice and exit or reorientation, plus contact details of recognised centres and sex-worker organisations. The SPF Justice provides a standard information page (art. 4).
• Display the trafficking-victim contact point visibly (art. 5).
• Make staff who handle ads aware of abuse and trafficking and of the help available, for example through yearly training (art. 6).
• Report suspected abuse or trafficking to the police or judicial authorities without delay. There is no general duty to monitor every ad (art. 7).
• Warn visitors that the ads are reserved for adults (art. 8).
• Online providers must also offer visitors a reporting tool and give support organisations a free account to contact advertisers (art. 9).
• Keep a contact point in Belgium reachable on working days. Answer police and judicial requests free of charge, within 24 hours in urgent cases (art. 10).
• Keep, for three years after the contract ends, a copy of the identity document, account-creation data (including IP address), ad-creation data, payment data and change logs (art. 11).

Liability. A provider outside these conditions, or a general platform outside a section dedicated to prostitution ads (decree art. 1, 2°), does not benefit from the exception. Publishing such ads is then itself the advertising offence (art. 266), now a level-1 offence. A platform taking an abnormal advantage, or organising others' prostitution, could also face procuring charges (art. 265). As intermediary services, platforms are also subject to the EU Digital Services Act (Regulation (EU) 2022/2065), including its rules on hosting liability and notice-and-action.

The 2022 reform repealed the old Criminal Code provisions in this area (arts. 379–382bis). The advertising exception for one's own services mentions only advertising 'behind a window' in a dedicated venue. A legal commentator notes this leaves open whether active soliciting in public is lawful under the advertising ban (Hausman 2023). Article 267 (formerly 433quater/3) punishes inciting an adult in public to prostitute themselves. That offence targets recruitment, not workers seeking clients. Local rules vary: Antwerp bans street prostitution with municipal administrative sanctions (GAS) or a street ban, and the Brussels municipalities of Schaerbeek and Saint-Josse imposed night closures on the window district in 2026 (see subnational).

Federal. The law of 3 May 2024 requires prior recognition of employers (arts. 11–16). Recognition can be suspended or withdrawn by the ministers or by the labour courts. The administration sends the list of recognised employers to the joint committee each year. Sex workers employed under contract have the rights of employees, including occupational health and safety rules. A further royal decree sets room size, hygiene, information display and identity-check conditions (art. 17).

Antwerp. Window operators need a suitability declaration (one per building, with a morality check) and must use HookUp. Window workers must show valid residence or identity papers. The police prostitution team checks venues and home-based workers and keeps their data in a database.

Art. 3 of the law of 3 May 2024 makes the sex worker employment contract an employment contract within the meaning of the law of 3 July 1978. All labour and social security law applies, subject to the exceptions in that law. Specific protections include the right to refuse any client or act without loss of pay or other penalty, protection against dismissal and adverse measures (with a reversed burden of proof and a fixed indemnity of six months' gross pay), and the right to resign without notice (arts. 7–8). The law does not regulate self-employed sex workers, whose work UTSOPI says was already possible before the reform. UTSOPI wrote that, as plans stood, sex workers would be employed under hotel-sector (horeca) contracts that do not mention prostitution. The law itself requires a written sex worker employment contract stating the employer's recognition number (art. 6).

Art. 268 of the new Criminal Code (formerly 433quater/4) aggravates procuring, unlawful advertising and public incitement when committed against an adult made vulnerable by an illegal or precarious administrative or social situation (level 4: more than 5 to 10 years). Under art. 17, 4° of the law of 3 May 2024, a recognised employer must respect, among other things, the regulations on the employment of foreign workers. UTSOPI noted after the 2024 law that it was unclear how sex workers without work status or legal residence would be treated. Migrant sex workers who are trafficking victims can contact the federal contact point, which the 2024 decree requires ad platforms to display.