Skin piercing registrations
Announcement - June 2023
South Norfolk Council has adopted a consolidated set of Model Byelaws for the regulation of hygiene and infection control within business carrying out tattooing, semi-permanent skin colouring, cosmetic piercing, electrolysis and the practice of acupuncture. These byelaws were enacted on 27 May 2023, and are widely adopted by many local authorities to consolidate previous individual byelaws providing a modernised way of regulating hygiene and infection control within these businesses for the benefit of the businesses and the safety of their customers.
The Food and Safety Team will be contacting or visiting skin piercing businesses and updating existing registrations where required.
A copy of the new consolidated byelaws can be seen below:
South Norfolk Council Model Byelaws
Please contact the Food, Safety and Licensing team if you have any enquiries.
A copy of Broadland District Council's Byelaws can be downloaded here.
Skin piercing registrations
If you run, or intend to run a business providing acupuncture, tattooing (including microblading), piercing or electrolysis in Broadland or South Norfolk, you must register with us. All practicing staff within your business will also need to be registered.
Once we have received your registration form, an officer may visit your business to ensure your practices and processes are suitable and you are undertaking your activity in a safe manner in a clean environment. To meet the registration standards, you will need to comply with the requirements of our skin piercing bye-laws
In addition to registering your business and members of staff, you will also need to ensure your premises has the correct planning permissions or usage class to operate. You can also check whether you will be required to pay business rates
How to register
Please complete the skin piercing registration form and return it by email, details of which are at the bottom of this page, or post to the Food, Safety and Licensing Team, South Norfolk Council or Broadland District Council, The Horizon Centre, Broadland Business Park, Peachman Way, Norwich, NR7 0WF
The registration form covers the registration of both the premises and the person. If further skin piercing practitioners are used at your business in future, they will also need to be registered
Fees
The fees set out below for each council are to be made at the time of registration, per practitioner.
The fee is a one-off payment rather than an annual fee.
| South Norfolk Council | Broadland District Council |
|---|---|
| £85 | £117* |
* or £25.50 per practitioner where a premises registration already exists
Guidance
The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) has produced a tattooing and body piercing guidance toolkit to help you achieve acceptable standards in your business.
The British Medical Acupuncture Society (BMAS) seeks to enhance the education and training of suitably qualified practitioners and to promote high standards of working practices in acupuncture.