Whoever speaks about sex work in the canton of Geneva almost always speaks about the beginning: about the course, the appointment at the police station, the question of whether an address already constitutes a salon. Hardly anyone talks about the end. Yet that’s precisely where Geneva’s distinctive feature is most evident. Registration is not just a checkbox on a list, but rather the opening of a police file with legally exhaustively enumerated fields – and this file doesn’t disappear on its own when someone stops working.
This is not a technicality. Geneva’s prostitution legislation recognizes two different ways of stopping: the entry „end of activity“ and actual deletion. They look similar on paper, but are two separate procedures with two different jurisdictions. If you only do one, you remain in the system. This article investigates the matter: What is actually stored during registration, where does the data flow, and how does exit from the register work.
What the registration requirement legally triggers
The basis is the cantonal prostitution law (Loi sur la prostitution, LProst, rsGE I 2 49) with its implementing regulation (RProst, rsGE I 2 49.01). Art. 4 para. 1 LProst first requires majority age. Art. 4 para. 2 LProst requires two things, before starting the activity:
- a mandatory and free awareness course on rights and duties, health, recognizing human trafficking risks and available support structures; the law explicitly permits outsourcing its implementation to associations under Art. 23 LProst or another technically qualified body;
- personal appearance at the competent authority for registration.
According to Art. 2 para. 2 RProst, the competent authority is the cantonal police, specifically the Brigade de lutte contre la traite des êtres humains et la prostitution illicite (BTPI). Art. 5 para. 1 RProst clarifies how registration works: personal appearance, photographing, then entry. The procedure is free (Art. 5 para. 3 RProst).
We have broken down the practical process of these two appointments – first information session, then police – step by step elsewhere, including the documents you need to bring; if you’re just starting out, it’s best to first read the sequence of the two appointments. Here we focus on what comes after.
What’s in the file – and why the law lists it
The crucial article is Art. 4A LProst and simply bears the title „Fichier de police“. Para. 1 names the purposes: identification, contacting and locating persons and businesses in the prostitution sector, controlling the freedom of action of sex working persons, implementing health and social prevention measures, regulating places, times and modalities of practice, and combating related phenomena.
Para. 2 exhaustively lists the fields. That is the actual value of the norm: what is not on the list does not belong in the file.
Identity data
Title of address, name, maiden name, first name, nickname, date of birth, place of birth (municipality for Swiss citizens, place and country for foreigners), full address with street, number, postal code, place and country, correspondence address, and nationality or place of origin.
The photo
Art. 4A para. 2 lit. b LProst refers to a „photographie non signalétique“ – that is, explicitly not a mugshot. The distinction is legally intentional: this is an administrative photo for purposes of identification, not forensic identification in the criminal procedural sense.
The „further data“
This is where it becomes informative. Data stored include, among others, the registration date, the date of a temporary work interruption, the date of resumption, short-term residence permit, cross-border commuter permit, residence permit, settlement permit, the canton of the permit, its validity date, private address in Switzerland, telephone number, business address, and – this is the point one should know – inspections, violations and notifications.
Two things follow from this. First: the file is not static. Every inspection at the salon, every fine, every official notification is added to it. Those wanting to know how this control and sanction apparatus works on the business side will find the escalation logic of LProst measures described separately.
Second: the fields „temporary interruption“ and „resumption“ show that the system knows about a pause. An interruption is not an exit, and an exit is not a pause. This distinction becomes important later.
Where the data automatically goes
Art. 4 para. 3 LProst requires the authority to explicitly inform the registering person what happens to their contact data – meaning title of address, name, first name, date of birth, nationality, full address and telephone number. These details:
- are transmitted as a matter of course to the cantonal tax administration (administration fiscale cantonale) and to the cantonal office for population and migration (OCPM);
- may be transmitted, upon written and reasoned request, to the Hospice général, the cantonal Geneva unemployment fund, the cantonal office for labor inspection and labor relations (OCIRT), and to social insurance institutions.
The first point is practically significant: registration with the police is simultaneously a notification to the tax administration. Those working in Geneva are not anonymous to the fiscal authorities – income is taxable anyway, but the connection is established here automatically and not only through the tax return. Registration for social insurance (AHV) as a self-employed person remains a separate, independent obligation.
Art. 4 para. 4 LProst notes that personality and data protection legislation remains applicable. Para. 5 requires that the person be systematically provided with detailed information at registration, para. 6 provides for forwarding to contact and support structures if necessary.
Important for interpretation: the police files themselves are strictly confidential under Art. 1A LCBVM (Loi sur les renseignements et les dossiers de police et la délivrance des certificats de bonne vie et mœurs of 29 September 1977, rsGE F 1 25). Information from them may not be disclosed to third parties, with reference to official secrecy under Art. 320 StGB; exceptions exist only for the authorities designated in LCBVM. The register is thus not a public directory, but a protected police data collection.
The other two registers
Those running a salon or operating an escort agency end up in a separate file. Art. 9A LProst regulates the file of salon-responsible persons, Art. 16A LProst that of escort agency managers – each with its own exhaustively enumerated field list, in the case of agencies including the complete address of the agency.
The path there is significantly more demanding than personal registration. According to Art. 9 RProst, notification is made in advance and in writing on the form issued by BTPI, together with a copy of ID, proof of residence or settlement, a certificate of legal capacity from the court of guardianship and adult protection, a criminal record extract, and enforcement and bankruptcy court extracts not older than three months, a sample of detailed receipts and a list of persons working in the business. BTPI examines the documents, conducts an investigation and obtains the opinion of the Département du territoire on whether the premises may be used for commercial purposes or whether an exemption permit exists. Only then is the entry made.
It is at this interface between residential use and commercial activity that most Geneva conflicts arise – whether a rented apartment becomes a salon in the legal sense depends less on a sign at the door than on what actually happens in the rental relationship.
Stopping is a procedure, not a standstill
Art. 5 para. 1 LProst is brief and binding: whoever ceases all activity connected with prostitution is required to inform the competent authorities. Art. 6 para. 1 RProst specifies the form – in writing to BTPI.
Then comes the junction. According to Art. 5 para. 2 LProst, the person is either listed as „en fin d’activité“, that is, with the notation end of activity in the prostitution file, or is deleted from all police files mentioning their prostitution activity at their request – including the file of sex working persons.
Art. 6 para. 2 RProst spells this out: BTPI either records the end of activity (lit. a) or requests the person to file a petition with the police commander if they additionally want the mention of activity deleted from police files (lit. b) – pursuant to Art. 3B LCBVM. This procedure is also free (Art. 6 para. 3 RProst).
This is the crux: deregistration is not deletion. If you only write „I’m stopping“, you get a notation – the file remains, with photo, inspections and violations. Deletion is a second, separate application to a different authority.
The second letter: deletion with the police commander
Art. 3A LCBVM grants every person the right to information regarding their personal data in police files and records, and further rights under Geneva’s Public Access and Data Protection Act (LIPAD of 5 October 2001). However, para. 2 notes that these rights may be restricted, suspended or denied if an overriding public or private interest requires it – specifically mentioned are criminal enforcement, effective prevention of crimes and offenses, and protection of legitimate third-party interests.
Art. 3B LCBVM regulates the procedure:
- The request must be filed by the affected person themselves or by their lawyer, in writing, to the police commander (para. 1). A power of attorney to third parties is therefore insufficient.
- The commander may involve the cantonal data protection and transparency officer (PPDT) (para. 2).
- He decides formally by means of an order and serves it on the requesting person or their legal representative (para. 3).
- If he grants a request that is not merely an information request, he notifies the legally binding order to those authorities and bodies to whom the relevant data had been transmitted by his department – unless the requesting person obviously has no protected interest in this (para. 4).
The last point is the most practically valuable: deletion does not remain limited to the police but is forwarded to the recipient agencies.
Against the police commander’s order, Art. 3C LCBVM provides for an appeal within 30 days of service to the Administrative Chamber of the Court of Justice. The proceedings are held in camera and are generally free of charge, except in cases of abusive or frivolous litigation. The Administrative Chamber must invite the cantonal data protection officer to participate. If the contested decision is based on Art. 3A para. 2 LCBVM, only the court and the data protection authority may examine the file.
How to do this practically
The canton provides its own service page for deregistration and deletion requests – „Demander une radiation“ on ge.ch, last updated October 14, 2024. The information there is straightforward:
- Complete the provided form.
- Send the complete file by post to the BTPI of the Geneva Police.
The completed form and a copy of your identity card or passport must be enclosed. The request to the BTPI is free of charge. On the same page, the canton also refers to the affected file as „SIRE Monde de la Nuit“ – a name you should know if you want to be precise in your correspondence.
Responsible authorities and contact points:
- BTPI, Boulevard Carl-Vogt 17–19, 1205 Genève, telephone +41 22 427 71 40, [email protected]. Appointments for initial registration are assigned online via ge.ch.
- Police Commander – recipient of the deletion request pursuant to Art. 3B LCBVM.
- Aspasie, Rue des Pâquis 11, 1201 Genève: information events Monday to Friday at 11 a.m., free and without advance registration; the certificate of course attendance must be presented at registration. The association publishes a multilingual guide.
- Administrative Chamber of the Court of Justice – appeals authority, 30 days.
What the figures indicate – and what they don’t
A look at the scale explains why the deletion question has weight in Geneva at all. According to research by Largeur.com from January 2020, the register maintained by the BTPI listed around 12,300 people as of October 1, 2019, and around 12,500 a year earlier – with approximately 1,250 new registrations in 2017 and around 1,130 in 2018. The then-brigade chief stated that it was predominantly women, with men making up around 4 percent; the main countries of origin were Spain, Romania, Hungary, and France.
A register with over twelve thousand entries and roughly a thousand new additions per year is a cumulative stock. This is not a criticism of the authorities, but a simple consequence of the legal situation: as long as no one files a deletion request, LProst has no statutory deadline after which an entry automatically expires. The law knows the notation „end of activity,“ but not the expiration of the entry.
Regarding the operational side: the Tribune de Genève reported in October 2024 that the BTPI then operated 58 active erotic salons, compared to 128 in 2018; some closures were economically driven, and a smaller portion resulted from decisions by the Département des institutions et du numérique following legal violations. Newer official figures for 2025 or 2026 could not be verified – those needing current data should ask directly from the BTPI or the cantonal statistics office rather than rely on circulating estimates.
The municipal part: narrower in Geneva than elsewhere
A common misunderstanding: that in Geneva, municipalities decide on the locations and times of street sex work. According to Art. 7 LProst, the exercise on public grounds can be prohibited at certain times or in certain locations, and Art. 8 RProst explicitly assigns this competence to the Department: the exercise can be prohibited in districts with a predominantly residential character and in the vicinity of schools, places of worship, cemeteries, hospitals, parks, playgrounds, public transport stops, public toilets, and publicly accessible parking areas.
The regulation is thus set at the cantonal level and not the municipal level – unlike cantons without their own sex work legislation, where everything is governed by the building and zoning regulations of municipalities; the canton of Zug is a good counterexample because there the zoning plan takes on the role of the missing special law. Which Geneva perimeters are affected in individual cases and why the boundaries are rarely clearly communicated in practice is a topic in itself – there is a separate inventory of permitted locations for that.
Four key takeaways
- Registering means opening a file. Art. 4A LProst exhaustively lists the rubrics, including a non-identification photograph, business address, inspections, and violations. What is not on the list does not belong in it.
- The tax administration and OCPM receive contact details by official means. Other authorities only upon written, reasoned request.
- A pause is not an exit, deregistration is not deletion. The file has its own fields for interruption and resumption; end of activity is a notation, deletion is a separate application.
- Deletion goes through the Police Commander, personally or through a lawyer, in writing, free of charge, with a formal order and 30 days to appeal to the Administrative Chamber. If it is granted, the final order is also sent to the authorities that received the data.
Anyone who does not take this second step has not done anything legally wrong – notifying the end of activity fully satisfies the obligation under Art. 5 para. 1 LProst. But the entry then remains, along with everything that has accumulated over the years. It is a decision that should be made consciously and not by omission.
This post reflects the status of the legal texts and cantonal information sheets evaluated and does not replace legal advice. Binding information on registration, recording, and deletion is provided by the BTPI of the Geneva Cantonal Police and the Département des institutions et du numérique; for data protection questions, the cantonal commissioner for data protection and transparency (PPDT) is the contact point. For advice in multiple languages, Aspasie in Geneva is responsible.