Most cantons in Switzerland regulate sex work indirectly: through building regulations, commercial police, or municipal ordinances that never mention the word „prostitution.“ The Canton of Vaud is different. Here there is a separate law, a separate authority, a separate procedure – and a step that hardly exists anywhere else: Before the registration becomes valid with the authority, you first sit down at a specialist organization.
To understand how sex work in the Canton of Vaud functions, you need to distinguish three levels: personal registration, operating permit – and the municipality, which ultimately decides whether work is allowed at a specific address. This text goes through the three levels in order.
A Canton with Its Own Law
The basis is the Law on the Exercise of Prostitution from March 30, 2004 (Loi sur l’exercice de la prostitution, LPros, BLV 943.05). So it’s not new – what’s new is what changed in 2019. The Grand Council passed a partial revision on October 1, 2019, which, together with the implementing regulation of June 9, 2021 (RLPros, BLV 943.05.1), came into force on July 1, 2021.
This revision changed two things that still shape everyday practice:
- The previously voluntary registration of sex workers became a requirement.
- Mere registration of a salon became a permit requirement – businesses now need formal permission, not just an entry in a register.
This is a different approach from many German-speaking cantons, where you have to piece together the rules from multiple ordinances. For those wanting to understand the difference, there is an overview on how to properly read cantonal regulations to provide the necessary benchmark for comparison. Vaud is at the heavily regulated end – but regulated here explicitly does not mean prohibited.
Personal Registration: What It Is and What It Isn’t
Who Must Register
Anyone exercising or planning to exercise prostitution or escort services in the Canton of Vaud must register. Registration is personal – it cannot be done by an agency, salon, or third party – and it must take place before starting the activity. Registration captures, among other things, name, first name, date of birth, location of activity, and a photo.
Crucially: There is no minimum threshold for the requirement to apply. Even those working only occasionally, only on weekends, or only through escort appointments fall under it. This distinguishes Vaud significantly from cantons where no separate permission exists for the individual and only the business is the focus.
The Step Other Cantons Don’t Know
The Vaud procedure is two-tiered. First, you register for an information and awareness conversation with a recognized specialist organization; registration for the offered sessions runs through fleurdepave.ch. Only after that is the registration validated with the authority – the cantonal online services are accordingly called „Annoncer une activité de travailleur-se indépendante (TDS)“ and „Valider l’entrevue pour une activité de travailleur-se indépendante (TDS).“
The conversation covers rights, health, risks, and contacts – not an evaluation. Can you fail? No. But without the appointment, registration is not complete.
This intermediate step is the actual Vaud special approach: the state deliberately places a social specialist organization between itself and the person required to register. This lowers the barrier for people who fundamentally distrust a police authority – and it increases the likelihood that someone will even learn about counseling services.
The Authority Appointment Itself
For validation, original documents are required: valid ID card or passport. Copies or cell phone photos are not sufficient; without an original, registration is not completed. The responsible office is the cantonal commercial police (Police cantonale du commerce, PCC), reachable via the landing page vd.ch/tds and the address [email protected]. Telephone counter hours are Monday to Thursday 8:30–11:30 and 2:00–4:30 p.m., and Friday 8:30–11:30 and 2:00–4:00 p.m.
Three points that are often misrepresented in practice:
- Registration is free. No fee is charged.
- It is one-time and indefinite. There is no annual renewal, no control card that expires every few weeks – unlike, for instance, in individual Austrian federal states, with which this is sometimes confused.
- It is revocable. Those who stop working can request deletion via written request to [email protected]. Personal data recorded are treated confidentially.
What Registration Explicitly Does Not Replace
Registration under LPros is not a residence or work permit, not proof of self-employment to social insurance, and not a tax return. It is a commercial police process – nothing more. Confusing these three things leaves you with three open issues instead of one.
The Vaud construction is thus very similar to the neighboring Canton of Neuchâtel, where the salon requires a permit but the person only a registration. The major difference: In Neuchâtel, street prostitution is cantonal prohibited; in Vaud it is not.
Permit: Salon and Escort Agency
The Term „Salon“ Is Broader Than You Think
A salon in Vaud law is any meeting place hidden from public view where prostitution is exercised. This is a functional, not a structural definition. A studio with reception falls under it – but potentially also a rented apartment where work takes place regularly. Those planning to provide or rent spaces should not answer the question „do I really need this?“ themselves but rather pose it to the PCC.
The Responsible Person
Since July 1, 2021, every salon must have a responsible person. They are factually and legally responsible for running the business and must manage it in full independence – a provision intended to prevent a front person appearing in the permit file while someone else makes decisions in the background.
The permit is only granted if this person
- is a Swiss national or meets the requirements for self-employment in Switzerland,
- through conduct and behavior provides assurance of compliance with the law (in practice: clean criminal record extract),
- is not subject to a salon entry ban under Article 17 LPros.
Additionally, the premises must meet the requirements of building police, environmental protection, fire police, and health and hygiene regulations.
Deadlines, Costs, Procedure
The application must be submitted at least 30 days before the desired start of operations to the Police cantonale du commerce; the required documents are listed on the respective form. For processing an application for an escort agency permit, a fee of CHF 500 is charged; this approach is similarly documented for applications for collaborative operation of a salon. Since fee schedules change, it’s worth taking a quick look at the current form before submitting.Notable: Even the escort agency requires a permit, with essentially the same personal prerequisites as the salon. Someone who works alone and only organizes their own appointments does not operate an agency – but whoever arranges clients for others, schedules appointments, and handles billing moves toward requiring a permit.
The Registration Requirement in Operations
The responsible person must maintain a current register accessible to police at all times in the salon. It includes the identity, residence, type and validity of residence or work permits, and arrival and departure dates of persons working there – and, this is the interesting part, the services provided by the salon and the amounts charged for them.
This last item is no accident. It makes room rentals, laundry, advertising, and miscellaneous costs subject to documentation and thus verifiable. This is precisely where exploitation models typically start.
When Things Go Wrong
Art. 16 LPros allows the trade police permanent closure of a salon if there are serious violations of order, quiet, and public health, if crimes, misdemeanors, or violations are repeatedly committed, in case of repeated breaches of law – or if a minor is found on the premises. This is the harshest sanction and it affects the business, not the persons working there.
The Municipality Decides Where – But Not Without Limits
Here lies the second half of the answer to the question of jurisdictions. The cantonal permit says whether someone may operate a salon. The municipality says where. Under Art. 14 LPros, municipalities are responsible within the framework of the law to issue restrictions; through building police, they also permit the use of premises for prostitution purposes. Several Vaud municipalities – such as Payerne or Lucens – have enacted their own Règlements communaux sur l’exercice de la prostitution.
That the zoning plan ultimately sets the rhythm is not a Vaud specialty; the same pattern appears in cantons where no sex trade law exists at all yet permits, registration, and zoning still determine what is allowed. The difference: In Vaud, the municipal level is added to the cantonal level; it does not replace it.
Lucens: How Far a Municipality Can Go
The most important precedent of recent years comes from a municipality in the Broye region. After a property company wanted to convert a former nursing home into a salon, the Lucens municipal council passed a prostitution regulation on December 12, 2022, effective February 9, 2023. It prohibited salon prostitution in buildings and zones primarily serving residential use as well as within a radius of 100 meters around these and around places of worship, cemeteries, preschool and school buildings, childcare facilities, vocational training structures, care homes, sheltered apartments, and hospitals.
The Vaud constitutional court (Cour constitutionnelle) dismissed the appeal on August 4, 2023 (CCST.2023.0003). The Federal Supreme Court corrected this on September 6, 2024 (Judgment 2C_474/2023): The 100-meter radius went too far because it effectively excluded prostitution from a large part of the municipal territory – a disproportionate interference with economic freedom. The corresponding provision was annulled.
The lesson from this, and it applies throughout the canton: A municipality may restrict sex work geographically. It may not effectively regulate it away through the back door of protective distances. Anyone facing a municipal regulation that leaves no realistic location has arguments.
Lausanne and Street Prostitution
Street prostitution is not prohibited at the cantonal level in Vaud, but it is practically relevant mainly in Lausanne. There it is restricted to a defined zone in the Sévelin/Sébeillon district, temporally to 22:00 to 5:00 a.m. With the densification of the district, the zone was reduced from around 1,700 to approximately 700 linear meters as of April 15, 2018; Rue de Genève was excluded. Anyone working there should check the current perimeter map with the city – the zone has been adjusted several times.
On the Riviera, meanwhile, salon and escort registrations are handled through the intermunicipal Association Sécurité Riviera. This is typical for Vaud: The actual contact point depends on the municipality, not the canton.
Foreign Sex Workers: The Actual Bottleneck
This is where the most false claims are made, so precisely: The LPros registration says nothing about residency rights.
For EU/EFTA citizens, the freedom of movement agreement applies. Self-employed service providers can be active up to 90 actual working days per calendar year under the notification procedure and must register themselves – for posted employees, the employer does this. Those staying longer than three months or 90 days per calendar year need a permit; in Vaud canton this is handled through the Service de la population (SPOP). For third-country nationals, access to self-employment is much more restricted.
This bottleneck is virtually the same in almost all cantons – how strongly it structures everyday life is shown by the analysis of the 90-day notification procedure as the actual mandatory registration. The Vaud addition: Here the LPros registration comes on top, it does not replace anything.
Money: AHV, Taxes, VAT
Sex work in Switzerland is generally self-employment. This implies:
- AHV/IV/EO: Registration with the compensation fund. For self-employed persons with registered office or residence in the canton, this is usually the Caisse cantonale vaudoise de compensation AVS, unless a trade association fund is responsible. The fund recommends filing the request in the first quarter after starting the activity. The contribution rates are designed with degressive-progressive structure and reach the full rate of 10.0% as of 2026 for a relevant annual income of CHF 60,500; the minimum contribution is approximately CHF 530 per year in 2026. Vaud-specific: In 2026, the contribution rate for „PC Familles“ also increases from 0.06% to 0.09%.
- Income tax: ordinary assessment with bookkeeping or records of income and expenses. Without receipts, amounts are estimated – and estimates rarely favor the taxpayer.
- VAT: Mandatory from an annual turnover of CHF 100,000 from taxable services.
- Withholding tax: relevant depending on residency status and circumstances; clarification belongs with registration, not at year-end.
Important: Anyone who does not clearly establish self-employed status with the compensation fund risks a subsequent reclassification as dependent employment – with back payments for the business where work was done. This is precisely why LPros so explicitly establishes the independence of the salon operator.
Advice: Who Actually Helps in Vaud Canton
- Fleur de Pavé (Lausanne) is the central specialist office for sex workers in the canton and conducts awareness-raising conversations as part of the registration procedure. This includes personalized reception, a mobile bus, and workplace visits. The association also operates the information portal tds-vaud.ch.
- ASTRÉE supports victims of human trafficking and exploitation in Vaud canton – from identification through accommodation and legal proceedings to vocational integration. The figures show how much demand has grown: 124 supported persons in 2024 compared to 30 in 2016.
- PROFA (sexual health, counseling) and Point d’Eau (low-threshold health and hygiene services in Lausanne) round out the network.These positions are not part of the authority and report nothing further. This is the practical value of the Vaud model: the mandatory notification automatically takes you past a place where you can later show up with a problem.
What Remains Open in 2026
The political process continues. In spring 2025, an interpellation in the Grand Council (25_INT_51, Hadrien Buclin and co-signatories) demanded answers on how sex workers can be better protected from violence and how those affected can be better supported. The motion points, among other things, to a Geneva model in which a foundation acquires properties to enable safe working conditions without exploitative rents. The direction of the debate is thus clear: the mandatory reporting requirement from 2021 is considered a closed chapter, the protection aspect remains open.
In parallel, the structure of the industry is changing. The canton has an average of around one hundred salons, with a downward trend. The canton does not publish a publicly maintained figure of registered sex workers – anyone who needs reliable figures must request them from the Police cantonale du commerce rather than rely on circulating estimates.
Quick Checklist
- Before starting work: Book an appointment for the awareness-raising conversation via fleurdepave.ch.
- Afterwards: Validate your registration with the Police cantonale du commerce – in person, with original ID, free of charge, indefinitely (vd.ch/tds, [email protected]).
- Clarify residence separately: 90-day reporting procedure for EU/EFTA self-employed, beyond that permission via the SPOP.
- Planning your own business? Submit permit application at least 30 days in advance to the PCC; designate responsible person; plan register management.
- Check address first: Clarify municipal regulations and zoning regulations before signing a rental agreement.
- Finances: Register with the compensation fund in the first quarter, keep records from day one, keep an eye on the VAT threshold.
And the principle that stands above everything: only the competent authorities provide binding information – for registration and permits the Police cantonale du commerce of the Canton of Vaud, for the location the municipality, for residence the SPOP, for contributions the compensation fund. Everything else, including this text, is guidance.