Permanent tattoos: the age of 21, the licence on the wall and what they must tell you

This is the law regulating permanent tattooing: who may do it, where, with what equipment and on whom. It distinguishes two separate licences, both from the Health Department: the **dermatograph artist’s**, the person who engraves drawings, figures or marks on human skin by introducing colorants under the epidermis with needles or scalpels; and the **tattoo studio’s**, the establishment. The Registry of Dermatograph Artists is the Health Department unit in charge of registering those artists and the authorized studios.

As a client: the law expressly prohibits tattooing mentally incapacitated persons and anyone under twenty-one (21) years of age. There is no written exception for parental consent. As an artist: you must be listed in the Registry and hold a licence; the registration application is accompanied by a certified copy of the birth certificate; if the person is foreign, their passport and certification of their status as an immigrant authorized to work in Puerto Rico; a color, front-facing photo ID, 2" x 3"; social security number, or passport number if foreign; and a Hepatitis vaccination certificate. You must also pass an exam administered by the Department to determine whether you have the necessary knowledge of aseptic technique. As a studio owner: the application requires conclusive proof that the owner or manager is of age, a good conduct certificate for the owner and the manager, a list of all owners or of those holding 50% or more in the corporation, a list of all the studio’s equipment and instruments, and a description of the procedures, services and the health and safety measures.

• Being twenty-one (21) or older. Article 9 prohibits tattooing mentally incapacitated persons or anyone under twenty-one, and writes no exception for parental or guardian consent.Verified against the official source
• That the artist holds a current licence and is registered in the Registry of Dermatograph Artists, and that the studio holds its own Health Department licence. The artist’s licence is placed on a visible wall of the studio.Verified against the official source
• That the area to be tattooed shows no signs of drug use, lesions or dermatological disease: the law prohibits tattooing over those areas.Verified against the official source

• The written declaration under Article 8, which the client signs and of which the studio keeps a copy for six (6) months. It must contain the dermatograph artist’s name, licence number, and the establishment’s address and phone.

1. 1

   Step 1: Twenty-one, not eighteen

   Article 9 is short and admits no readings: **tattooing mentally incapacitated persons or anyone under twenty-one (21) years of age is prohibited**. The law writes no exception for parental consent or accompaniment. And it attaches the consequence to the studio, not the client: violating this provision shall carry indefinite revocation of the licence. It is the most misunderstood point, because the general age of majority in Puerto Rico is not the bar this law uses.

2. 2

   Step 2: The licence on the wall

   Article 3 says no person may tattoo or call themselves a dermatograph artist unless they hold a licence under this law and are registered in the Health Department’s Registry of Dermatograph Artists. Article 6 explains what that licence looks like: if the Secretary determines the applicant complies, they issue a licence in certificate form, **which shall be placed on a visible wall of the tattoo studio**, valid for two (2) years. Article 10 adds the other licence: no person, firm, corporation or association shall operate a tattoo studio without a licence issued by the Health Department. That is, in a compliant studio there are two things to look at: the establishment’s licence and the certificate of the artist who will tattoo you, with its number.

3. 3

   Step 3: The declaration you sign beforehand

   Article 8 binds both: the dermatograph artist and the studio’s owner or manager **shall inform the client, verbally and in writing, how to care for the tattooed area and the fact that the tattoo is permanent and irreversible**. The client signs a declaration stating they have read and understood the instructions, and the studio keeps a copy for six (6) months. The law says what that written declaration must contain: the dermatograph artist’s name, licence number, the establishment’s address and phone; the instructions that the tattooed area must not be exposed to the sun for two (2) weeks and that sterile gauze will be used to clean the area frequently; and the warning that the client must consult a doctor if they have signs of infection or have had an allergic reaction. If they gave you nothing in writing, that alone is a breach.

4. 4

   Step 4: What you can watch while being tattooed

   Article 7 lists eleven sanitary rules the licensed artist must follow, and nearly all are visible: a clean medical-type gown or surgical garment during the process; washing and scrubbing nails with antiseptic soap and hot water before starting and after finishing with each client; **disposable gloves, sterile gauze and sterilized needles**; washing the body area to be tattooed with antiseptic soap, and not tattooing where there are signs of drug use, lesions or dermatological disease; if shaving is needed, disposable razors for each service and re-washing the skin with seventy percent isopropyl alcohol; cleaning and rinsing the stencil in germicidal solution before and after each application, then keeping it in a sterile area; using non-toxic pigments specific to tattooing and discarding pigment residue; drying the tattoo when finished, applying a sterile lubricant from a plastic or metal tube container and covering the area with sterile gauze; **immediately discarding needles and sharps in labeled puncture-proof containers** and disposing of them as high-risk biological material; placing equipment and instruments in germicidal solution or an ultrasonic cleaner; and discarding gloves after each use in bags identified as biomedical waste.

5. 5

   Step 5: The client register and why it helps you

   Article 18 requires the owner or manager to keep a written record of every job performed, stating the client’s full name, address, phone number, age and date of birth; **the pigments used**; the day the tattoo was done; the dermatograph artist’s name; and the client’s signature. That information goes into a Client Register kept in bound books with successively numbered pages of no more than five hundred (500) sheets, available for inspection at any time by the Secretary or their representatives. If you have an allergic reaction months later, the pigment used is on record, and the studio is required to have it.

6. 6

   Step 6: Inspections, denial and revocation

   Article 14 says studios shall be inspected **before the licence is granted, while it is in force and upon renewal**, and that authorized Department representatives may enter at reasonable hours. Blocking entry constitutes sufficient reason to deny or revoke the licence, and if denied or revoked, no new application may be filed for six (6) months. Articles 16 and 17 list the causes for denial and for suspension or revocation — having operated illegally, conviction of a felony or of a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude, manifest incompetence to a third party’s detriment, gross negligence, mental incapacity declared by a court or established by medical expert opinion, and being a narcotics addict or alcoholic — always after notice to the interested party and an opportunity to be heard. For incapacity and substance use, the law allows restoring the licence as soon as the person proves fitness and meets the other requirements. Article 13 adds a practical rule: a change of studio ownership carries cancellation of the licence, which must be returned to the Department.

7. 7

   Step 7: The penalties

   Article 21 is single and covers everything: any person who fails to comply with this law’s provisions shall incur a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be punished with **a fine of no more than five thousand (5,000) dollars or jail not exceeding six (6) months or both, at the Court’s discretion, plus suspension or revocation of the corresponding licence**. On waste, Article 19 refers out: biomedical waste disposal shall follow the standards set by the Environmental Quality Board for that type of waste; this law does not describe them and neither do we. And Article 20 empowers the Secretary of Health to adopt the regulations needed to cover everything the law does not expressly provide: that regulation is not in the law and we do not publish it.

Before the Health Department, through the Registry of Dermatograph Artists, which the law defines as the Department unit in charge of registering dermatograph artists and authorized tattoo studios. That is where the registration application is filed, the aseptic-technique exam is taken, the artist’s and the studio’s licences are issued, and where inspections are directed. What we do not publish: the address, phone, form number, online portal, how long a licence takes or the procedure to file a complaint about a studio, because Act 318-1999 does not set them; that is why processing time stays unverified.

• Believing 18 plus parental permission is enough: the law prohibits tattooing anyone under twenty-one and writes no consent exception.
• Not looking at the wall: the artist’s licence is issued as a certificate that must be placed on a visible wall of the studio.
• Accepting aftercare explained only verbally: the law requires it verbally and in writing, and that you sign a declaration.
• Throwing away the signed declaration: it carries the artist’s licence number and the studio’s address and phone.
• Letting yourself be tattooed over a lesion or a skin disease: the law expressly prohibits it.
• Not asking about the pigment: the studio is required to record it in the Client Register, and it is the fact a doctor would ask for after a reaction.
• Assuming the studio licence covers the artist: they are two separate licences with different terms — two years for the artist, four for the studio.
• Leaving renewal to the last minute: the application must be filed ninety days before expiry, and if filed after the licence has expired the Department treats it as an original application.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Salud de Puerto Rico

  Salud

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov

• Puerto Rico Department of Health

  Salud

  www.salud.pr.gov