Acupuncture, Tattooing, Cosmetic Piercing and Electrolysis Registration

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Introduction

You need to register with us if you’re going to carry out acupuncture, tattooing, semi-permanent skin-colouring, cosmetic piercing or electrolysis. If you don’t, you may receive a fine.

If you provide tattooing or semi-permanent skin colouring, you can join the tattoo hygiene rating scheme.

Fees

You’ll need to pay £328 to register.

If you want to add an additional treatment after you’ve registered, you’ll need to pay and extra £56 for each treatment.

What you need to do

You must:

sterilise any equipment you use during treatments, including any containers for dyes used in tattooing
wear disposable gloves and protective clothing and change them between customers
use disposable paper sheet to cover treatment surfaces and replace it after each customer
disinfect treatment surfaces after each customer
display no smoking, no drinking and no eating signs where they can be clearly seen by customers
provide clean hot and cold running water, soap or detergent and hand washing facilities

You must display a copy of your registration certificate and the byelaws (PDF 277kb) at your premises where customers can see it. If you don’t you may receive a fine.

You can download the tattooing and piercing toolkit (PDF 3062kb) and the Kent code of practice for hygienic skin piercing (PDF 4883kb).