North Dakota Century Code Title 23. Health and Safety § 23-01-35. Tattooing, body piercing, branding, subdermal implants, or scarification--Permit--Fee--Adoption of rules--Exemptions--Injury reports

1. A person may not operate a facility providing tattooing, body piercing, branding, subdermal implant, or scarification services without a permit issued by the department under this section. The holder of a permit shall display the permit in a conspicuous place at the facility for which the permit is issued. A permit issued under this section expires annually. An applicant for a permit shall submit an application for a permit to the department, on a form provided by the department, with a permit fee established by the department. The application must include the name and complete mailing address and street address of the facility and any other information reasonably required by the department for the administration of this section.

2. The department of health and human services shall adopt rules to regulate any person that receives compensation for engaging in the practice of tattooing, body piercing, branding, subdermal implants, or scarification. The rules must establish health and safety requirements and limitations with respect to the age of an individual who may receive a tattoo, body piercing, or scarification and may prohibit any practice that the department of health and human services deems unsafe or a threat to public health.

3. A facility is exempt from subsection 1 if the facility provides body piercing that is limited to the piercing of the noncartilaginous perimeter or lobe of the ear and the facility does not provide tattooing, branding, scarification, or subdermal implants. A person is exempt from regulation under subsection 2 if the person's practice under this section is limited to piercing of the noncartilaginous perimeter or lobe of the ear. A licensed health care professional acting within that professional's scope of practice and the associated medical facility are exempt from this section.

4. If a customer of a facility regulated under this section reports to the facility an injury the customer or operator of the facility believes to have resulted from the tattooing, body piercing, branding, subdermal implanting, or scarification provided at the facility, the operator of the facility shall provide the customer with written information on how to report the alleged injury to the department of health and human services. If a licensed health care professional treats a patient for an injury the professional determines, in the exercise of professional judgment, occurred as a result of a service regulated under this section, the professional shall report the circumstances to the department of health and human services. A licensed health care professional is immune from liability for making or not making a report under this subsection.

5. The fees established by the department must be based on the cost of conducting routine and complaint inspections and enforcement actions and preparing and sending license renewals. Fees collected under this section must be deposited in the department's operating fund in the state treasury and any expenditure from the fund is subject to appropriation by the legislative assembly. The department shall waive all or a portion of the fee for any facility that is subject to local jurisdiction.