Prostitution Prostitution laws in PanamaPanamá
Panama regulates rather than prohibits sex work, through a 1949 health decree. Decree 149 of 1949 bans prostitution 'absolutely' within cities and towns, subjects it elsewhere to health inspection, and requires a Health Department permit for hostesses ('alternadoras'), dancers and waitresses in bars, cabarets and nightclubs. Its Art. 12, which fined 'clandestine prostitution', was repealed in 2008, and the Ombudsman states that sex work is not penalised. The Penal Code punishes facilitating, recruiting or organising the 'sexual exploitation' of others for profit (four to six years, Art. 180), moving a person for 'unauthorised paid sexual activity' (Art. 181), and trafficking, which includes advertising or arranging a person's travel to carry out acts of prostitution (fifteen to twenty years, Art. 456-A).
Legal model
Regulation (legal & licensed). Selling sex and running venues are legal under a licensing or registration regime.
Borderline. A 1949 health decree subjects prostitution to sanitary inspection and requires a Health Department permit to work as an 'alternadora' or similar in bars, cabarets and nightclubs, and the Penal Code refers to 'unauthorised' paid sexual activity. Selling has carried no sanction since 2008, but the decree's ban on prostitution inside towns was never repealed, and profit-driven facilitation or organisation of 'sexual exploitation' is a crime (Art. 180).[1][2][3]
At a glance
| Question | Status | In short |
|---|---|---|
| Selling sexual services | Licensed | Selling sex carries no sanction since Executive Decree 332 of 29 July 2008 repealed Art. 12 of Decree 149 of 1949, which fined clandestine prostitution. The 1949 decree still bans prostitution within city limits, subjects it elsewhere to health inspection, and requires a health permit for hostesses and similar staff in bars, cabarets and nightclubs; registration covers venue-based workers only.[1][3][4] |
| Buying sexual services | Legal | No offence of paying an adult for sex was found in the Penal Code. Sexual exploitation of minors, including paid sexual acts, is a separate group of offences in the same chapter.[2] |
| Brothels and managed venues | Restricted Breach: criminal offence | Bars, cabarets and nightclubs employing hostesses operate under the 1949 decree's health control and permit system. Outside that, anyone who for profit facilitates, recruits or organises in any form the 'sexual exploitation' of others commits a crime punishable by four to six years and a fine (Art. 180).[1][2] |
| Third parties profiting (procuring / pimping) | Illegal Criminal offence | Facilitating, instigating, recruiting or organising the sexual exploitation of others for profit: four to six years and 150–200 day-fines (Art. 180), eight to ten with aggravating factors. Moving a person into, out of or within the country to subject them to 'unauthorised paid sexual activity': four to six years (Art. 181). Living off a person held in sexual servitude by threats or violence: three to five years (Art. 182).[2] |
| Advertising sexual services | Restricted Breach: criminal offence | There is no offence for advertising sexual services as such, but the trafficking offence covers anyone who promotes, finances, advertises ('publicite'), invites or arranges 'by any means of individual or mass communication' a person's entry, exit or movement within the country to carry out acts of prostitution: fifteen to twenty years, with no requirement of coercion (Art. 456-A).[2][5] |
The law in detail
Selling sexual services
Selling sex carries no sanction since Executive Decree 332 of 29 July 2008 repealed Art. 12 of Decree 149 of 1949, which fined clandestine prostitution. The 1949 decree still bans prostitution within city limits, subjects it elsewhere to health inspection, and requires a health permit for hostesses and similar staff in bars, cabarets and nightclubs; registration covers venue-based workers only.[1][3][4]
Decree 149 of 20 May 1949 (Gaceta Oficial 10914, 6 June 1949), Art. 1: 'Prohíbese de manera absoluta el ejercicio de la prostitución dentro del perímetro de las ciudades y poblaciones … En los lugares en que no se prohibe, la prostitución quedará sometida a la inspección y a la reglamentación de las autoridades sanitarias.' Art. 5 requires a special permit from the Health Department to work as 'artista, alternadora, corista, mesera, anfitriona o cajera en cantinas, cabarets o clubes nocturnos'. A 2015 newspaper report describes the work permit and health controls for nightclub work as the only legal route, and independent, online or street-based sex workers as absent from the registers.
Confidence: medium. The 1949 decree was read from an OCR of the scanned Gaceta; Executive Decree 332 of 2008 itself was not opened (its effect is stated by the Ombudsman). Current Health Ministry rules on health cards were not reviewed.
Checked 30 October 2026
Buying sexual services
No offence of paying an adult for sex was found in the Penal Code. Sexual exploitation of minors, including paid sexual acts, is a separate group of offences in the same chapter.[2]
Confidence: medium. Based on the 2016 consolidated text published by the Public Prosecutor's Office; later amendments were not checked.
Checked 30 October 2026
Brothels and managed venues
Bars, cabarets and nightclubs employing hostesses operate under the 1949 decree's health control and permit system. Outside that, anyone who for profit facilitates, recruits or organises in any form the 'sexual exploitation' of others commits a crime punishable by four to six years and a fine (Art. 180).[1][2]
Confidence: low. Where the line falls between a licensed nightclub and criminal 'sexual exploitation' is not defined in the texts checked, and case law was not reviewed.
Checked 30 October 2026
Third parties profiting (procuring / pimping)
Facilitating, instigating, recruiting or organising the sexual exploitation of others for profit: four to six years and 150–200 day-fines (Art. 180), eight to ten with aggravating factors. Moving a person into, out of or within the country to subject them to 'unauthorised paid sexual activity': four to six years (Art. 181). Living off a person held in sexual servitude by threats or violence: three to five years (Art. 182).[2]
Note. Consolidated 2016 text; later amendments were not checked.
Checked 30 October 2026
Advertising sexual services
There is no offence for advertising sexual services as such, but the trafficking offence covers anyone who promotes, finances, advertises ('publicite'), invites or arranges 'by any means of individual or mass communication' a person's entry, exit or movement within the country to carry out acts of prostitution: fifteen to twenty years, with no requirement of coercion (Art. 456-A).[2][5]
Confidence: medium. A sex workers' organisation warns that the article could be read as covering any invitation to a sex worker to travel for work; no case law on advertisements or platforms was found.
Checked 30 October 2026
Key legislation
| Law | What it does here | In force |
|---|---|---|
| Decreto 149 de 20 de mayo de 1949, por el cual se desarrollan disposiciones en represión de la prostitución y se dictan medidas sobre higiene social y moralidad pública (Gaceta Oficial 10914) Decree 149 of 1949 on the repression of prostitution, social hygiene and public morality Arts. 1–7 | Bans prostitution within towns, subjects it elsewhere to health inspection and requires health permits for hostesses in bars and nightclubs.[1] | 6 June 1949 |
| Texto Único del Código Penal de la República de Panamá (comentado), 2016 Penal Code (Law 14 of 2007, consolidated text) Arts. 180–182 · Art. 456-A | Procuring (Art. 180), moving people for unauthorised paid sexual activity (Art. 181) and trafficking, including advertising a person's travel for prostitution (Art. 456-A).[2] |
Timeline
Sources
- Decreto 149 de 20 de mayo de 1949, por el cual se desarrollan disposiciones en represión de la prostitución y se dictan medidas sobre higiene social y moralidad pública (Gaceta Oficial 10914) (Decree 149 of 20 May 1949 on the repression of prostitution and on social hygiene and public morality). Asamblea Nacional de Panamá, LEGISPAN (copia alojada por Justia), 6 June 1949. legislation · accessed 30 October 2026
- Texto Único del Código Penal de la República de Panamá (comentado), 2016 (Consolidated text of the Penal Code of Panama (annotated), 2016). Ministerio Público – Procuraduría General de la Nación, 2016. legislation · accessed 30 October 2026
- Defensoría del Pueblo realiza reunión para la prevención de situaciones de violencia contra las trabajadoras sexuales (Ombudsman holds meeting on preventing violence against sex workers). Defensoría del Pueblo de Panamá, 25 February 2019. government · accessed 30 October 2026
- En Panamá, la prostitución quedó en un “vacío legal” (In Panama, prostitution was left in a 'legal vacuum'). La Estrella de Panamá, 18 October 2015. news · accessed 30 October 2026
- Marco legal sobre el trabajo sexual y participación política de las mujeres trabajadoras sexuales en Panamá (Legal framework on sex work and political participation of women sex workers in Panama). RedTraSex / Mujeres con Dignidad y Derecho de Panamá, November 2020. ngo · accessed 30 October 2026