If you have a business which provides higher risk personal appearance services (body piercing, cosmetic tattooing or tattooing) you must hold a licence and only provide services from the premises stated on this licence.
This does not apply to personal appearance services provided in a health-care facility (e.g. cosmetic surgery) or at a declared health service (e.g. acupuncture).
Acupuncture is not considered to be a personal appearance service and will continue to be regulated under Chapter 4 of the Public Health Act 2005. Acupuncture premises do not need to be registered.
Massage provided by a massage therapist is not a personal appearance service.
COVID-19 Update
As at 1 June 2020, under Stage 2 of Queensland's Roadmap to easing restrictions, tattooists have been permitted to reopen and have up to 20 customers at any one time in their business premises providing they have a COVID Safe Checklist in place.
In addition, tattoo operators must also comply with the general requirements placed on all industries by the Chief Health Officer under the Restrictions on Businesses, Activities and Undertakings Direction, including that:
- there is no more than one person per 4 square metres
- the 1.5 meter social distancing rules are observed
- you keep contact information for all guests and staff for 56 days for tracing purposes.
Licence applications/renewals
During the period tattooists could not operate, the OFT provided you the opportunity to either:
- withdraw your application and seek a refund or
- allow OFT to hold your application, pending the lifting of the ban.
Now that restrictions have been eased, we will recommence processing the applications which were placed on hold.
If you need to renew your licence, please mail it to;
Industry Licensing Unit,
GPO Box 3111, Brisbane QLD 4001.
More information
For more information, read the Tattoo industry FAQs on impacts of COVID-19 fact sheet.
Please also check the Office of Fair Trading website to keep up to date with the latest information on COVID-19.
Contact us
If you have any questions please email us at ilu@justice.qld.gov.au and one of our officers will contact you as soon as possible.
Fair trading information and advice is also available on our website 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
COVID-19 or coronavirus further information
Further information regarding COVID-19 or coronavirus is available on the Queensland Government's COVID-19 website or the Queensland Health website.
