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Whoever wants to find out how sex work is regulated in Switzerland usually makes the same mistake: they look for one law. In many cantons there is one – Bern, Geneva, Neuchâtel, Lucerne and Basel-Stadt have their own prostitution or sex business laws with registers, notification and operating permit requirements. Appenzell Ausserrhoden is not one of them. And that is precisely why the legal situation here looks different from what many expect.
This is not a grey area and not a lawless space. Sex work is legal throughout Switzerland, including in Ausserrhoden. However, in the canton it is not governed by a special law, but by general law: building law and zoning plan, catering law, trade and health law. For everyone who works here or wants to run a business, this shifts the crucial question – away from the «sex business paragraph», towards a sober question of spatial planning. This article explains what actually applies in Appenzell Ausserrhoden, who is responsible and where you can get binding information.
No Prostitution Law – Why It Matters
In Switzerland, the cantons are responsible for regulating sex work; the federal government only sets the criminal law and foreign law framework. About half of the cantons have created their own regulations, often with a registration requirement for sex workers with the police and an operating permit for salons. In the canton of Bern, for example, a «register sheet» is kept; in Geneva, every sex worker must register.
Appenzell Ausserrhoden has no such regulation. There is no cantonal sex work register, no special law permit that an individual sex worker would have to obtain from a cantonal office. This has two consequences that must be kept separate:
- For the individual, sex work-specific notification or permit requirements are eliminated. What remains are the general obligations that apply to every self-employed person (more on this below).
- For the business – i.e. a contact bar, salon or room rented by the hour – no sex business law applies, but building and catering law does. And here lies the actual bottleneck in Ausserrhoden.
To put it bluntly: In Ausserrhoden, it is not a morality paragraph that decides the fate of a red-light bar, but the zoning plan of the municipality.
The «Permit» is Really a Building Permit
A contact bar has, as authorities and courts in the canton describe it, a brothel-like character: the operator rents women rooms on the upper floors, while a bar operates on the ground floor. Whether such an establishment can be created at all is first a spatial planning question – namely, whether the use is permitted in the zone in question.
Precisely on this point, Ausserrhoden’s court and administrative practice ruled in a much-cited decision (AR GVP 26/2014). The essence of the ruling: a contact bar with prostitution can be zoning-compliant in the core zone. Under the cantonal building law, in addition to residential and public buildings, «moderately disruptive businesses with centre-forming function» are permitted in the core zone – and such an establishment can fall under this category.
The authority examines this in two stages:
- Abstract zoning compliance: Does this type of use belong to the categories permitted in the zone at all?
- Concrete immissions: Does the specific business generate excessive emissions – noise, traffic, nocturnal comings and goings – or does it stay within the permitted range?
From this logic flows almost everything practical:
- In residential zones, such an operation is generally not zoning-compliant.
- In core, centre or mixed zones, it may be permitted – but must be examined in each individual case.
- The municipal zoning and land use plan is decisive, not a cantonal uniform rule. What is possible in Herisau may turn out differently in a smaller municipality at the same location type. These differences are intentional and real; never rely on the regulations of a neighbouring municipality.
Change of use requires a viable operational concept
The second classic alongside zoning is the change of use. If a former restaurant or apartment is converted into a bar plus rooms rented by the hour, this is a change of use under building law that requires a permit – with proper disclosure of the building application documents and the opportunity for neighbours to lodge an objection.
Herisau’s practice in recent years exemplifies this. For the former «Weisses Rössli» on Schmiedgasse (later «Ritter Salon»), a change of use application was initially rejected by the building authority due to a missing operational concept; only after the requirements were met was the change of use approved. A formal procedure also took place for the change of use of the upper apartments on Gossauerstrasse (from the former «Wunderbar» to become «Bar Passion») – with the conversion of apartments to rooms rented by the hour as the core of the building application.
The lesson for operators: a clean, professional operational concept – opening hours, security, hygiene, number of rooms, handling of emissions – is not optional but often the condition under which a permit is granted at all.
Don’t Forget the Catering Permit
If a bar with service is also operated, an operating permit for catering is added. The Office for Economics and Labour (Department of Construction and Economics) is responsible; the local municipality is consulted in advance in the procedure. Building permit and catering permit are two separate permits with different authorities – plan for both from the start.
And the «Notification Requirement»? What Actually Applies to the Individual
Because Ausserrhoden does not maintain a sex work register, there is no cantonal obligation here – unlike in Bern or Geneva – to register as a sex worker with the police. Anyone who finds an alleged «cantonal notification requirement for sex workers in AR» online should be sceptical. What actually counts are three other, generally applicable obligations.
1. Residence Rights: For Foreigners the Real Hurdle
The most relevant notification requirement is under foreign law, and it is prescribed under federal law:
- EU/EFTA citizens can engage in self-employment via the notification procedure for up to 90 days per calendar year; notification takes place before commencing activity. For longer or dependent employment, a short-stay or residence permit is required.
- For third-country nationals, there is practically no legal access to sex work: the former cabaret dancer status (the L permit for dancers from third countries) was abolished on 1 January 2016.
The Office for Migration / the cantonal migration authority is responsible for permits and the notification procedure in the canton, in conjunction with the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM). We have a comprehensive, nationwide guide on this topic – clarify the cantonal details in Ausserrhoden directly with the migration authority.
2. AHV: Self-employment Must be Recognized
Anyone who works self-employed must register with the compensation fund. In Ausserrhoden, this is SOVAR – Social Insurance Appenzell Ausserrhoden (Compensation Fund AR), Neue Steig 15, PO Box 1254, 9100 Herisau. Important: the fund does not automatically recognize the status of «self-employed», but examines it in each individual case based on actual economic circumstances – not based on what a contract says. Anyone who is factually subject to instructions in a business may be considered dependent employment under social insurance law, with corresponding consequences for contribution obligations. This is the point where many are surprised – not the tax office, but the compensation fund decides on the status.
3. Taxes
Income from sex work is taxable employment income and must be declared in the tax return. The Appenzell Ausserrhoden Tax Administration is responsible; the cantonal tax return guide walks you through the declaration of self-employment. For foreign short-term residents, withholding tax may also apply. And nationwide: from an annual turnover of CHF 100,000, you become subject to VAT. For mixed or cross-border situations, it is worthwhile to get early information from the tax administration to avoid surprises with back-payments later.
Health, Protection and Advice – Who Helps in the Region
Even without a sex business law, Appenzell Ausserrhoden has a network of contact and support services that is linked across cantonal borders with St. Gallen and Appenzell Innerrhoden.
- Office for Health AR, Division of Health Promotion and Prevention: coordinates cantonal prevention services for sexually transmitted infections.
- Aids-Hilfe St.Gallen-Appenzell (AHSGA): counselling, testing and treatment for HIV and other STIs for the St. Gallen / both Appenzell region. Through the national programme APiS (Aids Prevention in Sex Work), services of community outreach work are targeted at people in sex work.
- Victim Support SG-AR-AI: the joint victim counselling service for St. Gallen and both Appenzell (Teufenerstrasse 11, 9001 St. Gallen). It provides free and confidential advice – also on human trafficking under Article 182 of the Criminal Code, which is closely linked to sexual exploitation.
- Women’s Centre Appenzellland (formerly Women’s Centre Appenzell Ausserrhoden) and the Equal Opportunities Division in the Office for Social Affairs offer advice and provide referrals.
These offices are accessible regardless of residence status or tax matters. Anyone who feels uncertain, endangered or under pressure will find a first, non-judgmental point of contact here.
Responsibilities at a Glance
| Matter | Responsible Office |
|---|---|
| Zoning compliance, building and change of use permits | Building Administration of the local municipality (e.g. Herisau) |
| Catering permit | Office for Economics and Labour (Department of Construction and Economics), municipality is consulted |
| Residence / 90-day notification procedure / permits | Cantonal Migration Authority & SEM |
| Self-employment, AHV contributions | SOVAR – Compensation Fund AR, Herisau |
| Income tax, withholding tax, VAT questions | Tax Administration AR (VAT: Federal Tax Administration from CHF 100,000) |
| Health, HIV/STI, prevention | Office for Health AR / AHSGA / APiS |
| Victim support, human trafficking | Victim Support SG-AR-AI, St. Gallen |
Conclusion: First the Zoning Plan, Then Everything Else
Appenzell Ausserrhoden does not regulate sex work through a special law, but through the tools available to every municipality anyway: zoning plan, building permit, catering law. For the individual sex worker, this means more freedom from sex-work-specific registers – but not fewer obligations overall: AHV, taxes and, if of foreign origin, residence law remain decisive. For businesses, the central question shifts to spatial planning; anyone who chooses the wrong zone or appears without an operational concept fails not at the red-light paragraph, but at the building application.
Because the decisive rules are designed at municipal level and can differ between Herisau and smaller municipalities, everything that is binding comes down to: Get the information from the responsible authority – from your municipality’s building administration for the zone, from the Office for Economics and Labour for catering, from SOVAR for AHV status and from the migration authority for residence. This overview shows you the doors; you must walk through them and confirm the individual case yourself.
This article reflects the status as of 2026 and is not a substitute for legal advice. Municipal regulations and zoning plans may vary – the information from the responsible authority is decisive.