Dutch prostitution bill put on ice

23rd March 2012, 0 comments

A bill to regulate the Dutch sex industry has been put on ice in the Upper House. Justice and Security Minister Ivo Opstelten has been told to provide more information on storing data and to investigate whether the plan infringes on human rights.

The bill stipulates that punters have to ascertain whether prostitutes are working legally, because it is a criminal offence to visit an illegal prostitute. This means customers to brothers have to be able to find out whether the establishment has a licence, so that they can rest assured that prostitutes are working legally. Prostitutes who do not work for a brothel have to be registered, so that customers can check their status by phone or on the internet.

The minister does not want to scrap registration altogether, but is willing to have prostitutes registered under a number rather than under their own name and address.