Paris: The French parliament has finally approved changes to the country's prostitution laws.

On Wednesday legislators approved a bill against prostitution and sex trafficking that bans buying sex, not selling it. Customers who break the law will face fines and be made to attend awareness classes on the harms of the sex trade.

The legislation, which passed 64-12 in the parliament's lower house, the National Assembly, makes French law one of the toughest against sex buyers in Europe.

Prostitution in itself is legal in France – though brothels, pimping and the sale of sex by minors are illegal.