France is to fine men who use prostitutes.
New legislation will shift criminal responsibility to clients and away from prostitutes.
The bill going through parliament is aimed at helping sex workers get free of pimps and organised criminal gangs.
Customers of prostitutes will be fined €1,500 for their first offence, going up to €3,750 for further contraventions.
Prostitution is legal in France, but laws prohibit soliciting, pimping, and selling underage sex. The country has an estimated 40,000 prostitutes, with 90% believed to come from South America, China, Romania and Bulgaria. It is feared that gangs and traffickers control most of them.
The fines, part of an anti-sex-trade bill, was approved by a show of hands in the Assemblée Nationale in the early hours of Saturday.
A similar law in Sweden from 1999 is said by some to have halved the level of prostitution there.
But opponents claim the legislation cannot be enforced and it will only cause prostitutes to operate underground, adding more danger to their lives.
Supporters of the bill believe it will drive traffickers and pimps away.
If approved, the law will establish a €20m fund to help those who want to leave the profession. Foreign sex workers who decide to leave will be offered a residence permit after six months.
The bill will be voted on in its entirety on Wednesday and be sent to the upper house of parliament, the Sénat, for approval
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