Charleston, SC Business Licensing & Operations: Tattoo & Body Modification (2026)

C. Code 1976 § 16-17-700, South Carolina's own criminal prohibition on tattooing. Because § 21-130 contains no separate penalty clause of its own, a violation is punished under the Code's general penalty at § 1-16, a fine up to $500 or up to 30 days in jail, with each day of a continuing violation treated as a separate offense. Unlike cities that regulate tattoo parlors through health permits or a licensing chapter, Charleston's Chapter 21 offenses article treats the act itself as a public-health offense rather than a business use, so there is no city business-license category, inspection process or age-restriction schedule for tattoo establishments; the ordinance's plain text bars the act of tattooing another person outright, for anyone, anywhere in the city.

Body modification businesses operating in Charleston generally rely on the medical exception recognized under the parallel state statute rather than any local permit, since the municipal code offers no such exception of its own.