Tattoo law in Germany

What the law requires of a tattoo studio here, and how to check one yourself. We list 1,322 studios in Germany.

Checked against primary sources on 21 July 2026. Laws change — the sources are linked at the bottom so you can verify anything here.

Is this studio licensed?

No licence exists at this level

Germany does not issue a tattoo licence, and there is no state exam or required qualification to work as a tattooist. This surprises people, so it is worth being precise about what does exist instead of what does not. Oversight runs through infection hygiene, not through a permit: under § 36(2) of the Infektionsschutzgesetz, businesses where pathogens could be transmitted through the blood during work on a person MAY be monitored by the local Gesundheitsamt (public health office), and such establishments have to set out their infection-hygiene procedures in a written hygiene plan. Read that "may" carefully — the wording is "können überwacht werden", so supervision is at the health office's discretion rather than automatic. Do not assume a studio has been inspected. You can ask the studio directly to see its hygiene plan, and you can ask the Gesundheitsamt for the district whether it monitors that studio. There is also a European standard for safe and hygienic tattooing, DIN EN 17169, which covers things like staff training in infection avoidance — it is a voluntary standard, not law, but asking whether a studio works to it is a fair and informative question.

§ 36(2) Infektionsschutzgesetz (IfSG); European standard DIN EN 17169 (voluntary)

How old do you have to be?

German law does not set a minimum age for tattooing. There is no age threshold in a statute, and the Jugendschutzgesetz — the youth protection act that covers things like alcohol and tobacco — does not deal with tattooing at all. That does not mean anything goes, because the question is answered somewhere else entirely. Tattooing someone is, in legal terms, bodily harm under § 223 of the Strafgesetzbuch. What makes it lawful is the client's valid consent. So instead of asking "how old must I be?", German law asks "was the consent valid?" For an adult that is normally straightforward. For someone under 18, two things are needed together: the agreement of the parents or legal guardian, AND enough maturity on the young person's own part to understand what a permanent tattoo means (Einsichtsfähigkeit). Because there is no fixed number in the law, studios set their own floors, and they vary — many will not tattoo anyone under 18 at all, and others will do so from 16 with a parent. A studio refusing you at 17 with a signed note from your parents is not being awkward; it is protecting itself, because if the consent is later held to be invalid, the tattooist has committed an offence.

If a studio breaks this: Bodily harm under § 223 StGB carries up to five years' imprisonment or a fine, and an attempt is also punishable. This is the provision a tattooist is exposed to if consent turns out not to have been valid — which is why the consent question, not an age number, is what a German studio will focus on.

§ 223 StGB (Körperverletzung); no minimum age in the Jugendschutzgesetz

What inks are legal here?

Tattoo inks and permanent make-up sold here must comply with the EU REACH restriction, which caps or bans around 4,000 hazardous substances in ink. It regulates the INK, not the act of tattooing — it does not make any tattoo illegal. Non-compliant inks could no longer be placed on the EU market from 5 January 2022. Two very widely used pigments, Pigment Blue 15:3 and Pigment Green 7, were given one extra year and became unusable from 4 January 2023. Because those two are also mixed into many greens, blues, purples and other shades, artists reported large parts of their colour range disappearing rather than just one blue and one green. Germany additionally has its own Tätowiermittelverordnung (Tattoo Inks Ordinance), which has regulated these products nationally since 2009 and sits alongside the EU rules. One thing worth understanding, because it is the opposite of what most people assume: the federal risk institute (BfR) states plainly that there is no authorisation procedure for tattoo inks. Nothing is approved by an authority before it goes into your skin. The manufacturer and importer carry responsibility for the product being safe and legal. That is exactly why it is reasonable to ask your artist which brand they use and to see the bottle.

Commission Regulation (EU) 2020/2081 (REACH Annex XVII, entry 75); Tätowiermittelverordnung (2009)

Inspections, and what to do if something goes wrong

Monitoring is carried out by the Gesundheitsamt of the district the studio sits in, under § 36(2) IfSG, and is discretionary rather than guaranteed. Establishments must document their infection-hygiene procedures in a hygiene plan.

Concerns about hygiene go to the Gesundheitsamt for the studio's district. If you believe you were tattooed without valid consent — for example as a minor without your parents' agreement — that is a matter for the police, because it engages § 223 StGB.

What we have not confirmed

Two things are left out on purpose rather than guessed at. First, the Gewerbeanmeldung: like any German business a studio registers a trade, but that is a business formality and not a tattooing credential, so we do not present it as one. Second, Germany is a federal country and individual Länder or municipalities can impose their own hygiene requirements on top of federal law; we have not surveyed those, so check with the Gesundheitsamt for the district the studio is in. We have also not recorded a separate rule for body piercing, which is not identical to tattooing in German practice.

Sources

§ 36 Infektionsschutzgesetz (IfSG) — infection-hygiene monitoring — retrieved 2026-07-21
§ 223 Strafgesetzbuch (StGB) — Körperverletzung — retrieved 2026-07-21
BfR — Frequently asked questions about tattoo inks (federal risk assessment institute) — retrieved 2026-07-21
Commission Regulation (EU) 2020/2081 — REACH Annex XVII entry 75 — retrieved 2026-07-21