Prostitution is legal in Malta in a narrow sense: the private sale and purchase of sex between consenting adults is not a criminal offense. Almost everything organized around it is. Soliciting in public, running a brothel, living off someone else’s sex work, and trafficking a person for sexual exploitation all carry prison sentences under the Criminal Code and the White Slave Traffic (Suppression) Ordinance.1Legiżlazzjoni Malta. White Slave Traffic (Suppression) Ordinance
What the Law Actually Permits
Malta does not criminalize the act of prostitution itself. A consenting adult who sells sex and a consenting adult who buys it face no charges for that transaction on its own. There is, however, no licensing system, no legal brothels, and no regulatory framework for offering sexual services. The act sits in a grey zone: lawful in private, criminal the moment it becomes an organized business or spills into a public space.
What Remains Illegal
The prohibitions in Maltese law target the infrastructure and exploitation around prostitution rather than the exchange itself. They are split between the Criminal Code (Chapter 9) and the White Slave Traffic (Suppression) Ordinance (Chapter 63).2Human Rights Directorate. Laws and Policies – Human Rights Directorate
Soliciting in Public
Loitering or soliciting for the purpose of prostitution in any street or public area is a criminal offense, and it is one of the most commonly enforced prostitution-related laws in Malta.
Brothels and Premises
Keeping any premises used for habitual prostitution is illegal. The same ordinance separately criminalizes detaining a person in a brothel or on such premises against their will, even if that person first went there voluntarily.3Parliament of Malta. White Slave Traffic (Suppression) Amendment Act 1994 Landlords also have grounds to evict tenants who conduct sex work on the property.
Living on the Earnings of Prostitution
Profiting from another person’s sex work is a crime. The law presumes a person is living on those earnings if they live with, regularly accompany, or exercise control over the movements of a sex worker in a way that suggests they are facilitating or compelling that work. The accused has to prove otherwise.3Parliament of Malta. White Slave Traffic (Suppression) Amendment Act 1994
Penalties for the Main Offenses
- Soliciting or loitering in a public place for the purpose of prostitution: up to six months in prison.
- Detaining a person in a brothel or premises used for habitual prostitution: up to two years in prison.3Parliament of Malta. White Slave Traffic (Suppression) Amendment Act 1994
- Compelling an adult into prostitution through violence or deceit: up to two years in prison, rising to one to four years where the offense involves abuse of authority, trust, or domestic relations, or is committed habitually or for profit.4WIPO. Criminal Code (Chapter 9) – Article 205
Offenses Involving Minors
Penalties climb sharply when anyone under eighteen is involved. Compelling a minor into prostitution by violence carries two to six years in prison, with possible solitary confinement; the range goes up one degree if the offender endangered the minor’s life, caused serious bodily harm, or acted as part of a criminal organization. Engaging a minor in prostitution to gratify another person carries eighteen months to four years, rising to two to six years where the same aggravating factors apply.5WIPO. Criminal Code (Chapter 9) – Article 204B
Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation
Human trafficking is handled as a separate and far more serious crime under Articles 248A to 248G of the Criminal Code. Trafficking a person for sexual exploitation, including for prostitution or pornographic performances, carries six to twelve years in prison.6UNODC SHERLOC. Malta Criminal Code Articles 248A-248G That minimum sentence alone is longer than the maximum for brothel-keeping or for compelling an adult into prostitution.
The law reaches the demand side too. A person who knowingly uses the services or labor of a trafficking victim faces eighteen months to five years in prison.6UNODC SHERLOC. Malta Criminal Code Articles 248A-248G Knowledge is the key element: a client shown to have known the person was trafficked is criminally liable regardless of whether any coercion occurred during the specific encounter.
Tax and Social Security
Because selling sex is not criminal, the income is not automatically outside the ordinary tax and social security rules. Malta’s Social Security Act requires people between sixteen and sixty-five who are “gainfully occupied” to pay contributions, and a sex worker earning income would technically be a self-occupied person liable for Class 2 contributions.7Department of Social Security (Malta). Social Security Contributions In practice, no registration system exists for sex work, tax authorities have issued no specific guidance, and most sex workers operate in the informal economy. The underlying principle still applies: lawful income is generally taxable.