Calvert County, MD Business Licensing & Operations: Tattoo & Body Modification (2026)

' Section 15-19 requires the owner of every body art studio to apply to the Department for a permit on forms that include a floor sketch showing windows, doors, room measurements and equipment placement, and it flatly states that no studio may operate and no tattooing or piercing may be performed without a current permit. The initial permit fee is $200, valid through December 31 of the year issued, and renewal is $160 annually, also expiring December 31; an owner may hold more than one permit, but each studio needs its own.

Section 15-20 requires the studio to be in compliance with the chapter's health and safety standards to qualify, bars transferring a permit between studios or through a 5% or greater change in ownership, and lets the Department suspend or revoke a permit for noncompliance. The chapter's substantive rules, covering everything from a solid-partition work area separate from the waiting room to autoclave sterilization records kept for three years, all flow from holding that permit. Chapter 15 also requires written parental or guardian consent before tattooing or piercing a minor, and licensed physicians performing tattoos or piercings as part of medical treatment are exempted from the permit scheme.