2026 No. 162
LICENCES AND LICENSING
PUBLIC HEALTH

The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Skin Piercing and Tattooing) Amendment Order 2026

Made
Coming into force
The Scottish Ministers make the following Order in exercise of the powers conferred by section 44(1)(b) and (2) of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 19821 and all other powers enabling them to do so.

In accordance with section 44(3) of that Act, a draft of this instrument has been laid before and approved by resolution of the Scottish Parliament.

Citation, commencement and interpretation1.

(1)

This Order may be cited as the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Skin Piercing and Tattooing) Amendment Order 2026 and comes into force on 26 March 2026.

(2)

In this Order “the 1982 Act” means the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982.

Amendment of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Skin Piercing and Tattooing) Order 20062.

(1)

The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Skin Piercing and Tattooing) Order 20062 is amended as follows.

(2)

In paragraph 5(b) of the schedule (modification of paragraph 5 of schedule 1 of the 1982 Act)—

(a)

for sub-paragraph (2C)(db) inserted in paragraph 5 of schedule 1 of the 1982 Act substitute—

“(db)

the activity of acupuncture must be carried out by an operator wearing disposable non latex gloves that have not previously been used with another client where—

(i)

the operator has an open lesion on their hands,

(ii)

the operator is handling items that may be contaminated with blood or other body fluids, or

(iii)

the client is bleeding or has an open lesion on an exposed part of the client’s body,”,

(b)

for sub-paragraph (2D)(ab) inserted in paragraph 5 of schedule 1 of the 1982 Act substitute—

“(ab)

the activity of acupuncture must be carried out by an operator wearing disposable non latex gloves that have not previously been used with another client where—

(i)

the operator has an open lesion on their hands,

(ii)

the operator is handling items that may be contaminated with blood or other body fluids, or

(iii)

the client is bleeding or has an open lesion on an exposed part of the client’s body,”.

JENNI MINTO
Authorised to sign by the Scottish Ministers

St Andrew's House,

Edinburgh

Explanatory Note
(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order amends the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Skin Piercing and Tattooing) Order 2006 (“the principal Order”), which designates the activity of carrying on a business which provides skin piercing or tattooing as an activity for which a licence under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 is required.

Article 2(2) of this Order amends the principal Order to adjust the requirements for the activity of acupuncture to be carried out by an operator wearing disposable non-latex gloves that have not previously been used with another client in certain circumstances. The amendments remove the requirements for the activity of acupuncture to be carried out by an operator wearing disposable non-latex gloves that have not previously been used with another client where the client is known by the operator to be infected with a blood-borne virus.