Brussels, 01/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - Member states may require keepers of brothels where the prostitutes sit in their windows to be able to communicate in a language shared by the prostitutes, ruled the Court of Justice in case C-341/14 on Thursday 1 October.
In the case in point, the keeper of a brothel where the prostitutes sit in their windows had renewal of his approval to operate refused because he rented room for parts of the day to prostitutes from Hungary and Bulgaria with whom he was unable to communicate. The authorities took the view that he did not fulfil the criteria that seek to prevent abuses and ensure that no criminal offences are committed against the prostitutes (such as human trafficking, forced prostitution and prostitution of minors). The Court of Justice was asked by the highest court in the Netherlands whether a linguistic requirement of this sort was compatible with the directive on services in the internal market (2006/123/EC).
The Court decided that the linguistic requirement is warranted by an overriding reason of public order. It would seem to be suited to that end since the prostitutes are able to directly inform the brothel keeper of any offences or risk of any offences being committed. The condition does not go beyond what is necessary since it does not impose any particular language or in-depth linguistic skills. The aim is simply to ensure that the brothel keeper and the prostitutes can understand one another. The Court ruled out interpreters or surveillance cameras as less constraining alternatives in pursuit of the same objective. (Original version in French by Jan Kordys)