Prostitution Prostitution laws in New ZealandAotearoa
New Zealand decriminalised prostitution with the Prostitution Reform Act 2003, in force from 28 June 2003. Selling and buying sex, street-based work, brothels and escort agencies are lawful, and contracts for sexual services are enforceable. Up to four sex workers who each keep their own earnings may work together without an operator; anyone else running a business of prostitution needs an annual operator certificate from the District Court. Councils may make bylaws on brothel location and sex-industry signage. Advertising is banned on radio, television and in cinemas and limited to the classified section of newspapers and periodicals; online advertising is not restricted by the Act. Section 19 bars temporary visa holders from sex work on pain of deportation; the UN women's rights committee asked for change in 2018, and in 2023 the government reported no reform under way.
Legal model
Decriminalisation. No prostitution-specific criminal law. Sex work is regulated like other work.
The Prostitution Reform Act 2003 states that its purpose is to decriminalise prostitution and to create a framework that safeguards sex workers' human rights and promotes their occupational health and safety (s 3). Selling, buying, brothels and third-party management are lawful; the remaining offences concern coercion, children, safer-sex duties, broadcast and print advertising, and operator certificates. The main exception is migrants: s 19 makes it a condition of every temporary visa that the holder may not provide commercial sexual services.[1]
At a glance
| Question | Status | In short |
|---|---|---|
| Selling sexual services | Legal | Providing commercial sexual services is lawful for adult citizens and residents, contracts for them are not void (s 7), and a sex worker may refuse or stop at any time despite any contract (s 17). Sex workers and clients must take all reasonable steps to use condoms or other barriers for penetrative services (s 9, fine up to NZ$2,000). Temporary visa holders may not provide commercial sexual services (s 19).[1] |
| Buying sexual services | Legal | Paying for sex with an adult is lawful. Clients share the safer-sex duties in s 9 and may not state or imply that a medical examination shows a person is free of infection. Receiving commercial sexual services from a person under 18, or contracting for them, is an offence punishable by up to 7 years' imprisonment (ss 22-23).[1] |
| Brothels and managed venues | Licensed Breach: criminal offence | Brothels are lawful businesses. Every operator of a business of prostitution other than a company must hold an operator certificate from the Registrar of the District Court (s 34, fine up to NZ$10,000); company directors count as operators. Certificates last one year and are refused to people with disqualifying convictions unless a judge grants a waiver. Councils may regulate brothel location by bylaw (s 14) and weigh nuisance and local character in resource consents (s 15).[1][2] |
| Sex workers sharing premises | Legal | Up to four sex workers may work from the same premises without an operator certificate if each keeps control of their own earnings. Such a "small owner-operated brothel" is treated as having no operator (ss 4-5). If charged with operating without a certificate, a person relying on this exemption must prove it on the balance of probabilities (s 34(3)).[1] |
| Third parties profiting (procuring / pimping) | Licensed Breach: criminal offence | Running, managing or profiting from a business of prostitution is lawful for certified operators. Inducing or compelling a person to provide commercial sexual services or hand over earnings by threats, abuse of authority, threatened disclosure (including of unlawful immigration status) or drugs is an offence carrying up to 14 years (s 16). Assisting, receiving earnings from or contracting for a person under 18 in sex work carries up to 7 years (ss 20-23).[1][3] |
| Advertising sexual services | Restricted Breach: criminal offence | Advertisements for commercial sexual services may not be broadcast on radio or television, screened in a public cinema, or published in a newspaper or periodical except in its classified advertisements section (s 11). Breach is an offence with a fine of up to NZ$10,000 for individuals and NZ$50,000 for companies. Councils may prohibit or regulate signage visible from public places (s 12). The Act does not restrict online advertising.[1] |
| Online platforms and ad sites | Legal | There is no sex-work-specific rule for websites. The broadcast and print restrictions in s 11 do not mention the internet, and hosting or publishing lawful adverts for adult sex workers is not an offence. Online content hosts can obtain immunity from civil and criminal proceedings over user content under the notice-and-takedown process in the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015 (s 24). Ads for anyone under 18 or for coerced services would engage ss 16 and 20-23.[1][4] |
| Street-based sex work and soliciting | Legal | Street-based sex work and soliciting are lawful; the 2003 Act repealed the soliciting offence along with the other prostitution offences. Councils cannot ban street work under the Act but may control sex-industry signage (s 12) and brothel location (s 14), and general public-order law still applies.[1][2][5] |
| Registration, licensing and health checks | Licensed | Sex workers do not register and there is no mandatory health testing; implying that a medical examination shows a person is free of infection is an offence (ss 8-9). Only operators of businesses of prostitution need a certificate, issued by the District Court Registrar and valid for one year (ss 34-38). Health inspectors may enter premises where a business of prostitution is carried on to check safer-sex compliance (ss 24-28).[1] |
| Tax and social security | Legal | Sex workers pay income tax like other workers. Inland Revenue's factsheet IR296 (April 2023) treats self-employed sex workers as "private operators" who file an individual tax return, may need to pay provisional tax and must register for GST if turnover exceeds NZ$60,000 a year. Whether a worker is self-employed or an employee is decided under general rules.[6] |
| Migrant sex workers | Illegal Administrative offence | Section 19 makes it a condition of every temporary entry class visa that the holder may not provide commercial sexual services, or operate or invest in a business of prostitution. A belief on reasonable grounds that a holder is doing so is sufficient reason for deportation under s 157 Immigration Act 2009. No visa may be granted on the basis of sex work. Residents may do sex work but may not operate or invest in a business of prostitution.[1][3][7][8] |
The law in detail
Selling sexual services
Providing commercial sexual services is lawful for adult citizens and residents, contracts for them are not void (s 7), and a sex worker may refuse or stop at any time despite any contract (s 17). Sex workers and clients must take all reasonable steps to use condoms or other barriers for penetrative services (s 9, fine up to NZ$2,000). Temporary visa holders may not provide commercial sexual services (s 19).[1]
"Commercial sexual services" means sexual services involving physical participation in sexual acts with, and for the gratification of, another person, provided for payment or other reward (s 4). Non-contact services such as webcam work fall outside this definition and therefore outside the Act. A sex worker is "at work" for the purposes of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 while providing services (s 10). Refusing to do sex work cannot affect a person's social security benefit or accident compensation entitlements (s 18).
Checked 30 October 2026
Buying sexual services
Paying for sex with an adult is lawful. Clients share the safer-sex duties in s 9 and may not state or imply that a medical examination shows a person is free of infection. Receiving commercial sexual services from a person under 18, or contracting for them, is an offence punishable by up to 7 years' imprisonment (ss 22-23).[1]
Checked 30 October 2026
Brothels and managed venues
Brothels are lawful businesses. Every operator of a business of prostitution other than a company must hold an operator certificate from the Registrar of the District Court (s 34, fine up to NZ$10,000); company directors count as operators. Certificates last one year and are refused to people with disqualifying convictions unless a judge grants a waiver. Councils may regulate brothel location by bylaw (s 14) and weigh nuisance and local character in resource consents (s 15).[1][2]
"Operator" includes anyone who owns, operates, controls or manages the business, or who decides when or where a sex worker works, their working conditions or their share of the payment (s 5). Applications go to the Registrar of the District Court at Auckland (s 35); disqualifying offences include offences under the Act, serious violence, sexual, organised crime, money laundering and drug offences (s 36). Court records about applicants and holders may be searched only by the applicant, the Registrar and the Police for investigating an offence (s 41).
Operators must take all reasonable steps to ensure barrier use, give health information to sex workers and clients, display it in brothels and not imply that medical examinations show workers are infection-free (s 8, fine up to NZ$10,000). Medical Officers of Health and their appointees may inspect for compliance with ss 8-9 (ss 24-28).
The consolidated text of 23 September 2026 notes that amendments made by the Planning Act 2026 have not yet been incorporated; their content was not reviewed.
The Prostitution Law Review Committee (2008) found that the certification system was 'not working satisfactorily': no enforcement procedure had developed and the number of certificates had fallen every year.
Checked 30 October 2026
Third parties profiting (procuring / pimping)
Running, managing or profiting from a business of prostitution is lawful for certified operators. Inducing or compelling a person to provide commercial sexual services or hand over earnings by threats, abuse of authority, threatened disclosure (including of unlawful immigration status) or drugs is an offence carrying up to 14 years (s 16). Assisting, receiving earnings from or contracting for a person under 18 in sex work carries up to 7 years (ss 20-23).[1][3]
Section 16(2)(c)(iii) expressly covers threats to disclose that a person is unlawfully in New Zealand. Trafficking and slavery are dealt with under the Crimes Act 1961 (not reviewed here). The 2025 US Trafficking in Persons report notes that the PRA's child provisions (ss 20-21) are sometimes used to prosecute child sex trafficking, and that the government has never reported identifying an adult New Zealand citizen as a sex trafficking victim.
Checked 30 October 2026
Advertising sexual services
Advertisements for commercial sexual services may not be broadcast on radio or television, screened in a public cinema, or published in a newspaper or periodical except in its classified advertisements section (s 11). Breach is an offence with a fine of up to NZ$10,000 for individuals and NZ$50,000 for companies. Councils may prohibit or regulate signage visible from public places (s 12). The Act does not restrict online advertising.[1]
"Advertisement" means any words or pictorial or other representation used to notify the availability of, or promote the sale of, commercial sexual services (s 11(3)). The offence covers anyone who publishes or authorises publication. Signage bylaws require the council to be satisfied that the bylaw is needed to prevent nuisance or serious offence to the public or signage incompatible with an area's character (s 12(2)); they may be made even if inconsistent with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 (s 13(2)).
Checked 30 October 2026
Online platforms and ad sites
There is no sex-work-specific rule for websites. The broadcast and print restrictions in s 11 do not mention the internet, and hosting or publishing lawful adverts for adult sex workers is not an offence. Online content hosts can obtain immunity from civil and criminal proceedings over user content under the notice-and-takedown process in the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015 (s 24). Ads for anyone under 18 or for coerced services would engage ss 16 and 20-23.[1][4]
A "business of prostitution" is a business of providing, or arranging the provision of, commercial sexual services (s 4). An escort agency that arranges bookings is such a business and needs a certified operator; a site that only publishes adverts placed by sex workers does not appear to arrange services, but no court decision on this point was found.
Under ss 23-24 of the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015, a host that receives a notice of complaint and follows the statutory process (including notifying the author within 48 hours) cannot be sued or prosecuted over the specific content; failing to use the process does not of itself create liability (s 23(2)).
The EU Digital Services Act does not apply.
Confidence: medium. Whether an advertising website could be treated as a 'business of prostitution' that needs a certified operator has not been decided by a court, as far as this review found.
Checked 30 October 2026
Street-based sex work and soliciting
Street-based sex work and soliciting are lawful; the 2003 Act repealed the soliciting offence along with the other prostitution offences. Councils cannot ban street work under the Act but may control sex-industry signage (s 12) and brothel location (s 14), and general public-order law still applies.[1][2][5]
The Library of Parliament of Canada's 2022 comparative paper notes that a 2013 petition to criminalise prostitution was considered by Parliament's Justice and Electoral Committee, which recommended against criminalisation and warned that banning street prostitution could harm sex workers' health and safety. The Prostitution Law Review Committee estimated Auckland's street-based sex workers at 230 in 2007.
Confidence: medium. The repeal of the former soliciting offence is described from a secondary source; the amended Summary Offences Act 1981 was not opened.
Checked 30 October 2026
Registration, licensing and health checks
Sex workers do not register and there is no mandatory health testing; implying that a medical examination shows a person is free of infection is an offence (ss 8-9). Only operators of businesses of prostitution need a certificate, issued by the District Court Registrar and valid for one year (ss 34-38). Health inspectors may enter premises where a business of prostitution is carried on to check safer-sex compliance (ss 24-28).[1]
Checked 30 October 2026
Tax and social security
Sex workers pay income tax like other workers. Inland Revenue's factsheet IR296 (April 2023) treats self-employed sex workers as "private operators" who file an individual tax return, may need to pay provisional tax and must register for GST if turnover exceeds NZ$60,000 a year. Whether a worker is self-employed or an employee is decided under general rules.[6]
IR296 defines a private operator as anyone in the sex industry who receives payment for services without tax deducted, including people working in massage parlours, escort agencies, on the street and privately, and refers workers to IR336 to determine employment status.
Checked 30 October 2026
Migrant sex workers
Section 19 makes it a condition of every temporary entry class visa that the holder may not provide commercial sexual services, or operate or invest in a business of prostitution. A belief on reasonable grounds that a holder is doing so is sufficient reason for deportation under s 157 Immigration Act 2009. No visa may be granted on the basis of sex work. Residents may do sex work but may not operate or invest in a business of prostitution.[1][3][7][8]
Section 19 was substituted by the Immigration Act 2009 with effect from 29 November 2010. Its consequence is immigration enforcement (deportation liability), not a criminal offence under the Prostitution Reform Act.
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women recommended in 2018 that New Zealand amend s 19. In its July 2023 periodic report the Ministry for Women said no work was under way to reform it but that the issue could be considered in a future review; MBIE described s 19 as an anti-trafficking measure. Between 26 April 2022 and 26 April 2023, 30 non-New Zealanders, mostly Brazilian, were refused entry at the border on suspicion of intending to do sex work (Immigration New Zealand figures reported by RNZ). The 2025 US Trafficking in Persons report states that traffickers use s 19 to threaten migrants with deportation to deter them from reporting abuse.
Checked 30 October 2026
Key legislation
| Law | What it does here | In force |
|---|---|---|
| Prostitution Reform Act 2003 (2003 No 28), version as at 23 September 2026 Prostitution Reform Act 2003 s 3 · s 4 · s 7 · ss 8-9 · s 11 · ss 12-15 · s 16 · s 19 · ss 20-23 · ss 34-41 · ss 42-46 | Decriminalised prostitution; sets safer-sex duties, advertising restrictions, council bylaw powers, coercion and child offences, the s 19 visa condition and the operator certificate system.[1] | 28 June 2003 |
| Immigration Act 2009 (2009 No 51), version as at 10 July 2026 Immigration Act 2009 s 157 · s 406(1) | Substituted s 19 of the Prostitution Reform Act from 29 November 2010; s 157 governs deportation liability of temporary visa holders for cause.[7] | 29 November 2010 |
| Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015 (2015 No 63), version as at 9 March 2022 Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015 s 23 · s 24 | Notice-and-takedown safe harbour protecting online content hosts from civil and criminal proceedings over user-posted content.[4] |
Pending and under review
Stalled · updated 23 October 2023
Calls to amend or repeal s 19 (temporary visa holders)
CEDAW recommended in 2018 that New Zealand amend s 19, and a petition started in October 2022 sought its repeal. In its July 2023 report to CEDAW the Ministry for Women said no reform work was under way, though the issue could be part of a future review. No bill or government review was found as of October 2026.[8]
In numbers
Prostitution Law Review Committee's first estimate, based mainly on retrospective police information and registers compiled under the Massage Parlours Act 1978; the Committee itself says these inflated the total.
Christchurch School of Medicine estimate used by the Prostitution Law Review Committee. The Committee attributes the gap from the 2003 figure to better methods, not to a fall of 3,600 workers.
26 April 2022 to 26 April 2023, mostly Brazilian nationals; Immigration New Zealand figures as reported by RNZ.
Timeline
- 27 June 2003Prostitution Reform Act 2003 receives Royal assent; it comes into force the next day, with the operator certificate system (Part 3) following six months later.[1]
- May 2008Prostitution Law Review Committee concludes that 'on the whole' the Act has been effective in achieving its purpose and that the sex industry has not grown, while finding the operator certification system not working satisfactorily.[2][5]
- 29 November 2010Section 19 is substituted by the Immigration Act 2009, keeping the bar on temporary visa holders providing commercial sexual services.[1]
- 2018The UN CEDAW Committee recommends that New Zealand amend s 19 because of its possible negative impact on migrant women.[8]
- July 2023In its periodic report to CEDAW, the Ministry for Women states that no work is under way to reform s 19.[8]
Sources
- Prostitution Reform Act 2003 (2003 No 28), version as at 23 September 2026. New Zealand Legislation (Parliamentary Counsel Office). legislation · accessed 30 October 2026
- Report of the Prostitution Law Review Committee on the Operation of the Prostitution Reform Act 2003. Prostitution Law Review Committee, Ministry of Justice (copy hosted by NZPC), May 2008. government · accessed 30 October 2026
- 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report: New Zealand. United States Department of State, 2025. government · accessed 30 October 2026
- Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015 (2015 No 63), version as at 9 March 2022. New Zealand Legislation (Parliamentary Counsel Office). legislation · accessed 30 October 2026
- Prostitution: A Review of Legislation in Selected Countries (Publication No. 2022-21-E). Library of Parliament of Canada, 25 October 2022. parliament · accessed 30 October 2026
- Private operators (IR296). Inland Revenue, April 2023. government · accessed 30 October 2026
- Immigration Act 2009 (2009 No 51), version as at 10 July 2026. New Zealand Legislation (Parliamentary Counsel Office). legislation · accessed 30 October 2026
- Migrants still prohibited from sex industry, despite UN report. RNZ, 23 October 2023. news · accessed 30 October 2026