The Extract is Empty, the Reputation is Not: Criminal Record Extract, Reputation and Licensing in Swiss Sex Work 2026
It is the cheapest paper in the entire file. A criminal record extract currently costs 17 francs – after a technical renewal of the system, three francs less than before. In the licensing application for a salon, contact bar, or escort agency, it sits among the rental contract, building permit, and debt register extract, often on a single A4 sheet, frequently with the sentence „No entries are recorded.„
And that is precisely where the misunderstanding begins. Many applicants believe that this sentence answers the reputation question. It does not. The private extract is a narrow snapshot of a much broader picture, and „reputationThe reverse is also true: the authority has no discretion to act arbitrarily. Its assessment must be proportionate and demonstrate the connection to the activity. Geneva’s administrative court practice shows both sides – confirmations of rejections, but also upheld complaints against character reference decisions. Anyone who receives a rejection is entitled to know which information was weighted how. A request also costs money even if it fails; we’ve calculated how the fee invoice looks even with a no using the example of Neuchâtel.
Cantons without their own law: Character reference comes through the back door
In cantons without prostitution legislation, the character reference check doesn’t disappear – it shifts. It runs through hospitality law, where permits are tied to personal requirements and thus to criminal record and debt collection extracts, through building law, and through trade permits. How the procedure is then distributed across multiple desks without „red light“ appearing anywhere on the form is shown by our analysis of five desks and no red light form in the Canton of Glarus.
The thresholds vary greatly. The City of Zurich requires a permit under its prostitution business ordinance for salons where more than two sex workers are active; requirements include a building permit, a current criminal record extract, a VAT confirmation, and proof of right of disposal over the premises. The Canton of Lucerne ties the permit requirement with the Lucerne police to businesses with three or more sex workers. The Canton of Bern treats microbusinesses – alone or with at most one other person in a maximum of two rooms – as merely subject to reporting; otherwise an operating permit is needed, with the complete application to be submitted to the municipality at least 60 days before opening, which forwards it to the government representative office. Legal entities must additionally attach commercial register and bankruptcy office extracts from the last five years.
The foreign extract: the actual time problem – and what’s changing in 2026
Whoever hasn’t lived in Switzerland for years needs extracts from abroad. This is in practice the item that bursts dossiers. Depending on the country, issuing takes weeks, often requiring an apostille or legalisation – Switzerland has been a member state of the Apostille Convention since March 11, 1973 – as well as a translation. And because the authority requires documents no older than three months, the issuing duration regularly collides with the validity period. Whoever gets the Swiss extract first and then waits months for the foreign one must order the Swiss extract a second time.
This is where the most important development of this year lies. On August 26, 2026, the Federal Council mandated the EJPD and EDA to negotiate with the EU Commission about Switzerland’s participation in the European Criminal Record Information System ECRIS. Negotiations are expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2026; the mandate is subject to neither the Foreign Affairs Commissions nor the cantons raising substantial objections. Since 2012, ECRIS has networked the criminal record databases of EU member states. A federal postulatory report from 2023 concluded that the exchange of criminal record information between Switzerland and EU states would increase security. The political origin lies with Ticino cantonal initiatives that demanded systematically obtaining criminal record extracts for EU citizens in residence permits; the National Council passed a postulate on this in summer 2017.
For the industry, this has two sides. Functioning exchange would relieve the bureaucratic odyssey of paper extracts, apostilles, and translations. At the same time, authorities would find it much easier to access foreign criminal records – also in permit and foreign law proceedings if the legal bases provide for this. Whoever is preparing an application today should assume that checking foreign criminal histories will become tighter, not looser, in the coming years.
And the sex workers themselves?
An important distinction that often gets lost: the character reference check primarily affects operators, not individual sex workers. Whoever registers or notifies as a sex worker generally doesn’t need to provide a criminal record extract; requirements are identity, residence and work authorisation, and – depending on the canton – a personal conversation. How differently the sequence is conceived is shown by the Vaud approach, where the conversation comes first and then the notification.
Geneva also knows a right that is too rarely used: whoever completely ceases activity in prostitution can request on application to be struck from all police files mentioning this activity. This is not an act of mercy but a legally provided request – and it’s worthwhile for everyone who wants to work in a different field later.
Practical sequence that saves time and money
- First clarify which document is required. Private extract or special private extract? In almost all permit proceedings in the erotic industry, it’s the private extract.
- Order only from the federal government. Officially for 17 francs online from the Federal Office of Justice or at a post office counter. The Federal Office explicitly warns against private providers who charge up to 35 francs.
- Start with the slow documents. Foreign extract, building permit, hospitality permit first – criminal record and debt collection extract last, so the three-month deadline still runs when you submit.
- Check your extract before the authority reads it. Order it early for your own control. If an entry is incorrect or should have been removed, you clarify this before the application.
- Explain rather than conceal. Where an entry exists, a brief, matter-of-fact explanation – facts, year, conclusion, no connection to the activity – works better than silence and much better than a false statement in the form, which becomes its own character reference problem.
- Have a rejection justified. If the authority requires more than the register, it must say what it took into account. Deadlines for objection and appeal are short.
Conclusion
The private extract answers a narrow question: are there final court judgments for crimes and misdemeanours whose deadlines are still running? Character reference asks something different – whether your past behaviour is compatible with an activity in which the legislator sees a real exploitation risk. This is precisely why police information, administrative histories, and since the removal of the usage ban in 2023, also things that no longer appear in the register count.
Whoever understands this doesn’t treat the 17-franc sheet as an acquittal and not as a judgment, but as one building block among several – and builds the dossier in the order the authority actually reads it.
This article reflects the status as of end of September 2026 and is not a substitute for legal advice. The requirements differ from canton to canton and sometimes from municipality to municipality – clarify the requirements with the responsible office before submitting your application.