Tattoo hygiene and sanitation training in France: certification and renewal

It is the only training French law requires from a tattoo artist, and it changed in nature in 2024. The old 21-hour attendance attestation, inherited from 2008, gave way to a certification delivered by the regional health agency (ARS) after an assessment, valid for five years and to be renewed. This article describes the scheme as written: duration, content, tests, accredited bodies, renewal, fate of older attestations, extension to permanent makeup, price and funding. The overall path is in « Becoming a tattoo artist in France in 2026 », the rest of the health regulation in « Tattoo hygiene and regulations ».

An obligation of the Public Health Code, an order of 2024

The obligation comes from article R1311-3 of the Public Health Code: persons who perform skin-piercing tattooing and body piercing techniques must have completed training in hygiene and sanitation conditions. Its content and arrangements are set by the order of 5 March 2024, in force since 14 March 2024, whose article 11 repeals the order of 12 December 2008. Any page still citing the 2008 order as the text in force is out of date.

The order of 11 October 2024 completed the scheme: it expressly includes permanent makeup, specifies the composition of teaching teams and settles the transition with attestations issued under the old regime.

Twenty-one hours over three days, seven of them practical

Article 1 of the order sets a minimum of twenty-one hours spread over three days, seven of them devoted to practical training. The content matches the framework of the certification registered in the France compétences specific register under number RS6939, whose attested competencies are:

• knowing and applying the regulation on skin-piercing tattooing and body piercing;
• knowing and applying the standards on body piercing jewellery;
• understanding and applying theoretical and practical knowledge of skin anatomy and physiology;
• understanding the infectious risk inherent in a tattoo or a body piercing;
• guaranteeing that equipment penetrating the skin barrier is sterile and single-use;
• controlling the infectious risk for the professional performing the act;
• managing waste assimilated to infectious healthcare waste;
• complying with the health rules for practising the activity.

Nothing in this list concerns the act of tattooing. The seven practical hours cover hand hygiene, preparation of the station and the skin, sterilisation, waste management. It is health training, not artistic training.

The assessment and the certification delivered by the ARS

The difference from 2008 lies in article 2 of the order: the territorially competent regional health agency, acting as certification body, delivers a certification, on the proposal of the assessment jury, to each person who attended the whole course and passed the test of knowledge and required skills. The RS6939 sheet describes the tests: a final written test and a practical assessment validating the content of each unit, with a multiple-choice questionnaire. The only entry prerequisite is being of age; for validation, the full twenty-one hours must have been attended.

The certification is valid for five years from its date of issue. Pending the ARS document, the jury's decision serves as proof of success, a clarification brought by the order of 11 October 2024. It is this certification, not the body's attestation, that is requested when declaring the activity to the ARS.

Who may train: bodies accredited for five years

Only bodies accredited by the director general of the ARS may deliver the training, and the accreditation is granted for five years (article 3). To obtain it, the body must present a teaching team made up of a professional in tattooing, permanent makeup or body piercing and at least one trainer with a qualification in hospital hygiene. Each ARS publishes the list of bodies it has accredited and the accreditation procedure, for example the ARS Grand Est or the ARS Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.

Two checks before enrolling: the body appears on an ARS list under the 2024 order, and the session is attached to code RS6939 on moncompteformation.gouv.fr. A hygiene course offered by a tattoo school without accreditation does not lead to the certification, whatever its content.

Renewal every five years

The RS6939 sheet provides that practical skills and knowledge must be updated every five years, through a refresher course of at least seven hours, also delivered by an accredited body and validated by a questionnaire or a multiple-choice questionnaire. The certification is therefore dated: an artist certified in 2025 will have to renew it before 2030 to remain compliant with article R1311-3.

Older 2008 attestations: the deadlines

Attestation obtained	Validity	Then
Before 31 December 2022	Three years from the publication of the order of 11 October 2024	Assessment and certification by the ARS
From 1 January 2023	Five years from issue, no later than 31 December 2028	Assessment and certification by the ARS
Issued by a body under the 2008 regime	No longer possible after 5 September 2025	Only bodies accredited under the 2024 order train

These rules are those of the order of 11 October 2024. The renewal of persons who obtained equivalence after the assessment then follows the general regime of article 2, five years.

Permanent makeup and piercing: the same training

Article R1311-1 of the Public Health Code covers skin-piercing tattooing, including permanent makeup, and body piercing, except ear lobe and nostril piercing with a gun. The order of 11 October 2024 made this inclusion explicit for the training. A permanent makeup practitioner or a piercer therefore follows the same twenty-one-hour course and obtains the same certification as a tattoo artist.

Price and funding

The price is not regulated: each accredited body sets its own, shown on the session's listing. This article publishes no amount, for lack of an official source. Funding, on the other hand, is framed: registration in the specific register makes the certification eligible to the personal training account, with coverage capped at €1,500 since 26 February 2026 by decree no. 2026-127. The other schemes, France Travail's individual training aid and third-party funders, are detailed in « Tattoo artist training in France: CAP, schools, price, CPF ».