(A) The Department of Health and Environmental Control must establish by regulation sterilization, sanitation, and safety standards for persons engaged in the business of tattooing. The department must provide the necessary resources to support the development of these standards. The standards must be directed at establishment and maintenance of sterile conditions and safe disposal of instruments. The standards may be modified in accordance with the Administrative Procedures Act as appropriate to protect consumers from transmission of contagious diseases through cross-contamination of instruments and supplies.

(B) Prior to performing tattooing procedures, a tattoo facility must apply for and obtain a license issued by the department that shall be effective for a specified time period following the date of issue as determined by the department. To obtain a license, the tattoo facility must:

Terms Used In South Carolina Code 44-34-20

  • Department: means the Department of Health and Environmental Control. See South Carolina Code 44-34-10
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Tattoo artist: means a person who practices body tattooing and who meets the requirements of this chapter. See South Carolina Code 44-34-10
  • Tattoo facility: means any room, space, location, area, structure, or business, or any part of any of these places, where tattooing is practiced or where the business of tattooing is conducted. See South Carolina Code 44-34-10

(1) obtain a copy of the department’s standards and commit on the application to meet those standards;

(2) provide the department with its business address and the address at which the licensee would perform any activity regulated by this chapter;

(3) provide to the department a certificate of each tattoo artist‘s initial certification of successful completion of courses in bloodborne pathogens and tattoo infection control as approved by the department and a current American Red Cross First Aid Certificate and an Adult Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) Certification obtained from the American Red Cross or the American Heart Association;

(4) remit to the department an initial and subsequently an annual license renewal fee of an amount set by the department;

(5) provide to the department a certified copy of an ordinance passed by the local governing body where the business will be located which authorizes the tattooing of persons within its jurisdiction;

(6) be in substantial compliance with department standards as determined by an initial license inspection conducted by the department.

(C) A tattoo facility may only provide tattooing and may not engage in any other retail business including, but not limited to, the sale of goods or performing any form of body piercing other than tattooing.