Prostitution Prostitution laws in Taiwan臺灣
Taiwan fines both parties to a sex transaction under Article 80 of the Social Order Maintenance Act (up to NT$30,000) and penalises brokering under Article 81. The 2011 amendment followed Constitutional Interpretation No. 666 (2009), which held that fining only the seller violated equality. Article 91-1 lets city and county governments legalise sex work in designated zones with licensed venues, registered workers and health checks; no zone has been created, and the last brothel licensed under pre-2011 local rules was reported closed in 2022. Inducing, harbouring or brokering sex for profit is a crime with up to five years under Criminal Code Article 231. Online messages that could draw minors into sex trade are a crime under the child sexual exploitation law, which reaches adult sex ads not restricted to adults.
Legal model
Selling and buying prohibited. Selling sex is an offence (criminal or administrative), whether or not buying is.
Since the 2011 amendment, the Social Order Maintenance Act fines both the person selling and the person buying sex (an administrative penalty), except inside zones that city and county governments may create by local ordinance under Article 91-1. No local government has created such a zone, so in practice the law operates as prohibition. On paper it is a regulation model: zones, licensed venues, registered workers and health checks. Profiting from arranging or harbouring sex is a crime under Criminal Code art. 231.[1][2][3]
At a glance
| Question | Status | In short |
|---|---|---|
| Selling sexual services | Illegal Administrative offence | Engaging in a sex transaction is fined up to NT$30,000, as is soliciting in a public place with intent to trade sex. The fine does not apply to transactions that comply with a local ordinance under Article 91-1, but no city or county has adopted one creating a zone.[1][3] |
| Buying sexual services | Illegal Administrative offence | Since the 2011 amendment, the same Article 80 fine of up to NT$30,000 applies to both parties to a sex transaction outside a lawful zone. Before that, only the seller was penalised, which the Council of Grand Justices held unconstitutional in 2009.[1][4][5] |
| Brothels and managed venues | Illegal Criminal offence | Keeping premises where others sell sex for profit is the crime of "harbouring" (容留) under Criminal Code Article 231, punishable by up to five years and a fine of up to NT$100,000. Article 91-1 would allow licensed venues inside local zones, exempt from Article 231, but no zone exists.[1][2][3] |
| Third parties profiting (procuring / pimping) | Illegal Criminal offence | Inducing, harbouring or brokering sexual intercourse or obscene acts between others for profit is a crime with up to five years' imprisonment and a fine of up to NT$100,000. Brokering a sex transaction without the criminal elements is an administrative offence: detention of up to three days plus a fine of NT$10,000–50,000.[1][2] |
| Advertising sexual services | Restricted Breach: criminal offence | Spreading, transmitting or posting, including online, messages capable of inducing, brokering or hinting at sex trade involving children or young people is a crime with up to three years and a fine of up to NT$1 million (five years if for profit). Interpretation No. 623 limits this to messages not effectively restricted to adults, so unrestricted online sex ads are caught.[1][6][7] |
The law in detail
Selling sexual services
Engaging in a sex transaction is fined up to NT$30,000, as is soliciting in a public place with intent to trade sex. The fine does not apply to transactions that comply with a local ordinance under Article 91-1, but no city or county has adopted one creating a zone.[1][3]
Article 80: "有下列各款行為之一者，處新臺幣三萬元以下罰鍰：一、從事性交易。但符合第九十一條之一第一項至第三項之自治條例規定者，不適用之。二、在公共場所或公眾得出入之場所，意圖與人性交易而拉客。" (A fine of up to NT$30,000 for (1) engaging in a sex transaction, except as permitted under local ordinances under Article 91-1(1)–(3); (2) soliciting for a sex transaction in a public place or a place open to the public.) Translation ours. The last paragraph of Article 91-1 requires local governments to offer vocational guidance or job-training referrals to sex workers on request.
Checked 30 October 2026
Buying sexual services
Since the 2011 amendment, the same Article 80 fine of up to NT$30,000 applies to both parties to a sex transaction outside a lawful zone. Before that, only the seller was penalised, which the Council of Grand Justices held unconstitutional in 2009.[1][4][5]
Checked 30 October 2026
Brothels and managed venues
Keeping premises where others sell sex for profit is the crime of "harbouring" (容留) under Criminal Code Article 231, punishable by up to five years and a fine of up to NT$100,000. Article 91-1 would allow licensed venues inside local zones, exempt from Article 231, but no zone exists.[1][2][3]
Article 91-1(2)(4)–(6) requires venues in a zone to register and hold a licence, and bars people convicted of listed sexual-exploitation or trafficking offences from running them. Article 91-1(3) let venues already licensed under local ordinances before the 2011 amendment continue at their existing address; Article 91-1(4) exempts such lawful venues from Criminal Code Article 231. Taiwan News reported in June 2022 that the last such licensed brothel, in Taoyuan, had closed.
Checked 30 October 2026
Third parties profiting (procuring / pimping)
Inducing, harbouring or brokering sexual intercourse or obscene acts between others for profit is a crime with up to five years' imprisonment and a fine of up to NT$100,000. Brokering a sex transaction without the criminal elements is an administrative offence: detention of up to three days plus a fine of NT$10,000–50,000.[1][2]
Criminal Code art. 231(1): "意圖使男女與他人為性交或猥褻之行為，而引誘、容留或媒介以營利者，處五年以下有期徒刑，得併科十萬元以下罰金。" Art. 231(2) increases the penalty by up to half for public officials who shield the offence; art. 231-1 punishes using force, threats, surveillance, drugs or similar means with at least seven years. Social Order Maintenance Act art. 81 covers brokering a sex transaction and soliciting in public with intent to broker one.
Checked 30 October 2026
Advertising sexual services
Spreading, transmitting or posting, including online, messages capable of inducing, brokering or hinting at sex trade involving children or young people is a crime with up to three years and a fine of up to NT$1 million (five years if for profit). Interpretation No. 623 limits this to messages not effectively restricted to adults, so unrestricted online sex ads are caught.[1][6][7]
Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act art. 40 continues former art. 29 of the Child and Youth Sexual Transaction Prevention Act. In Interpretation No. 623 (2007) the Council of Grand Justices upheld that provision but read it down: messages that do not have child sex trade as their content and whose sender has taken the measures needed to restrict recipients to adults fall outside it. Separately, Social Order Maintenance Act art. 91-1(2)(10) requires zone ordinances to ban advertising sex transactions in public places.
Confidence: medium. The text of Article 40 was checked on an official government portal; the national law database and the Constitutional Court site could not be reached, so the content of Interpretation No. 623 is taken from search results quoting the official page.
Checked 30 October 2026
Key legislation
| Law | What it does here | In force |
|---|---|---|
| 社會秩序維護法 Social Order Maintenance Act 第80條 · 第81條 · 第91條之1 | Article 80 fines both parties to a sex transaction and public soliciting; Article 81 penalises brokering; Article 91-1 allows local zones with licensed venues and registered workers.[1] | |
| 中華民國刑法 Criminal Code of the Republic of China 第231條 · 第231條之1 | Article 231 criminalises inducing, harbouring or brokering sex between others for profit.[2] | |
| 兒童及少年性剝削防制條例 Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act 第40條 | Article 40 criminalises disseminating messages that may lead children or young people into sex trade, including online.[6] |
Timeline
- 6 November 2009Interpretation No. 666 holds that penalising only the person selling sex under the Social Order Maintenance Act violates the constitutional principle of equality; the provision is to lapse within two years.[4]
- 4 November 2011Legislative Yuan passes and the President promulgates the amendment that fines both parties outside designated zones and adds Article 91-1 on local sex-trade zones.[4][5]
- June 2022Taiwan News reports the closure of Tiantianle in Taoyuan, the last brothel licensed under pre-2011 local rules, and that no city or county has set up a zone.[3]
Sources
- 社會秩序維護法 (Social Order Maintenance Act (amended to 11 June 2025)). 臺北市法規查詢系統 (Taipei City Government law database). legislation · accessed 30 October 2026
- 中華民國刑法 (Criminal Code of the Republic of China (amended to 22 July 2026)). 法務部主管法規查詢系統 (Ministry of Justice). legislation · accessed 30 October 2026
- Taiwan's last legal brothel closes its doors. Taiwan News, 8 June 2022. news · accessed 30 October 2026
- 社維法修正 性交易專區外娼嫖皆罰 (Social Order Maintenance Act amended: both parties penalised outside sex-trade zones). 司法院 司法周刊 (Judicial Yuan, Judicial Weekly No. 1568), 11 November 2011. government · accessed 30 October 2026
- 社會秩序維護法三讀通過！ (Social Order Maintenance Act passes third reading). 立法院 (Legislative Yuan), office of Legislator Huang Shu-ying, 4 November 2011. parliament · accessed 30 October 2026
- 兒童及少年性剝削防制條例 (Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act). 臺北市法規查詢系統 (Taipei City Government law database). legislation · accessed 30 October 2026
- 司法院釋字第623號解釋 (Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 623). 全國法規資料庫 (Ministry of Justice), 2007. case law · accessed 30 October 2026