'McBrothel' loophole in sex laws

A morals lobby group is warning that a loophole in new sex laws could see chains of "McBrothels" opening around the country.

The Society for the Promotion of Community Standards said the loophole would allow chains of brothels to set up without officialdom knowing where they were.

Under the Prostitution Reform Act, an operator of a brothel has to be certified by July 2004.

However, application forms require just the operator's name, date of birth, gender, an authenticated photograph, a photocopy of a form of official identification and an address where the certificate - issued by the Auckland District Court - and any related correspondence can be sent.

"What it means is that anyone over 18 can set up a chain of McBrothels around the country and there's no requirement for anyone to say where these sexual services are being provided," said society secretary David Lane.

"A service address could be a post office box in Invercargill or on the Chatham Islands. That's got huge implications."

Councils throughout the country, including Auckland, Hamilton and Upper Hutt, have been moving to ban commercial sex premises from "sensitive" residential areas.

With the new certification process not due to start for six months, the society predicted chaos unless local authorities introduced strict licensing controls. Under the new regime, anyone without a certificate would face a fine of up to $10,000.

But if there was no location data base, police would be unable to trace them.

Justice Ministry spokesman Barry Ebert did not know if there was any way officials could find out where sex premises were.

"I don't know the answer to that. All I know is the act requires every operator to hold a certificate. Certification is of the person, not the business or the place of business."

It was up to individual authorities to regulate the sex industry as they saw fit.

- NZPA