Dénia definitively approves the ordinance that prohibits and penalizes prostitution

The Dénia City Council has definitively approved the municipal ordinance to eradicate prostitution and trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation in the municipality. The full text is published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Alicante (BOP) number 202, dated October 23, 2026, in section III of Local Administration, with official reference 8019/2026 and fourteen pages. The regulation entered into force the day after its full publication in the provincial gazette.

The agreement originated from the Municipal Plenary in the session of July 30, 2026, which initially approved the ordinance and submitted it to public consultation for thirty days from the publication of the announcement in BOP number 149, dated August 10, 2026. Once the period concluded without any registered claims or suggestions, the provisional agreement was definitively adopted in accordance with articles 49 and 70.2 of Law 7/1985, of April 2, Regulating the Bases of the Local Regime.

An abolitionist regulation of three titles and 25 articles

The ordinance is structured into three titles, one repealing provision, and two final provisions. Title I establishes the object, scope of application, and guiding principles; Title II establishes the sanctioning regime; and Title III regulates the comprehensive action for women in situations of prostitution.

The text considers all women in situations of prostitution as victims and identifies demand as the primary cause of the phenomenon, with a “comprehensive, inclusive, and abolitionist” approach. Its scope covers public roads, street furniture, public buildings, educational centers, provisional installations, facades, plots of land, gardens, and vehicles parked on public roads, and it applies to all persons present within the municipal boundaries regardless of their administrative status or census registration.

The legal basis invoked includes the 1949 Lake Success Convention, the Palermo Protocol of 2000, the Warsaw Convention of 2005, and the Istanbul Convention of 2011, along with Organic Law 3/2007, Organic Law 1/2004, Law 10/2022 for the comprehensive guarantee of sexual freedom, Law 13/2022 General Law on Audiovisual Communication and, at the regional level, Law 7/2012 Comprehensive Law against Violence against Women and Law 8/2010 on the Local Regime of the Comunitat Valenciana.

Fines from 500 to 3,000 euros and protection of victims

The sanctioning regime distinguishes three levels, with the following amounts:

• Minor offenses: fine of 500 to 750 euros, for placing, distributing, or disseminating advertising that promotes the consumption of prostitution or sexual tourism.
• Serious offenses: fine of 750.01 to 1,500 euros, for offering, requesting, negotiating, or accepting paid sexual services, performing paid sexual activities in public spaces—including inside vehicles—, collaborating with those demanding services, or promoting sexual services on media visible from public roads.
• Very serious offenses: fine of 1,500.01 to 3,000 euros, when serious conducts are committed within 200 meters of educational centers or places with high child and youth attendance, within 200 meters of spaces for cultural, festive, or sporting events, or in points of special vulnerability due to isolation, lack of lighting, or difficulty of escape.

The repetition of two or more minor offenses in one year is considered serious, and the repetition of two or more serious offenses in one year, very serious. Minor offenses expire after six months, serious offenses after two years, and very serious offenses after three. The regulation is applicable to adults and minors between 14 and 18 years old, whose financial penalties may be replaced by public service activities with social interest and educational value. In no case are women in prostitution or victims of sexual exploitation penalized.

Closure of premises and apartments, and a social care network

Articles 21 and 22 address sexual exploitation as an economic activity: since the object of the activity is illicit, no responsible declaration or enabling administrative instrument may be favorably reported, and it will be inadmissible for processing. If the municipal inspection confirms its exercise in premises or private areas, a police measures file will be initiated and the closure or shutdown of the activity may be agreed upon, following a hearing with the owner within a period of fifteen days. In the case of a private residence, the closure will be agreed upon solely for the purposes of the activity, and its use as a dwelling shall remain unaltered.

Title III commits the Dénia City Council to inform persons subjected to paid sexual services of the available resources, remove detected advertising—with costs borne by the advertiser—and accompany victims to health and social services in serious or urgent cases. Care will be coordinated with resources such as the Centre Dona, Atenció a les Víctimes del Delicte, CREAMA, LABORA, MACMA, the Departament de Salut Pública, and the specialized resources of the Generalitat Valenciana.

The ordinance repeals all municipal provisions of equal or lower rank that oppose its content, especially those referring to the use of public space that could protect practices of prostitution or sexual exploitation, and refers to Law 39/2015 and Law 40/2015 as the supplementary regime.

The impact of the regulation is direct for residents, the hospitality sector, and local businesses in the municipality: Dénia establishes its own sanctioning framework that applies to the client, the intermediary, and the advertiser, and links the economic activity of sexual exploitation to the closure of the establishment. Furthermore, the text consolidates an abolitionist model that other localities can replicate through supra-municipal cooperation.

Source: Official Gazette of the Province of Alicante, No. 202, of October 23, 2026, Section III. Local Administration, pp. 1-14 (official reference: 8019/2026).