Body Piercing Advice and Safe Practice - Charnwood Borough ...

I’m all set up now (b)
What about the legal issues?
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Unless byelaws or local registration prohibits, the law does allow children under the age of
18 to consent to body piercing provided they are sufficiently mature to understand the nature
of the request. This kind of assessment is clearly a subjective matter for the operator
involved. The client should be provided with sufficient information to allow them to proceed
in an informed way and without pressure. The presence of a parent or guardian, however,
is recommended during any such procedure, to avoid conflicts later;
Genital piercing should be by appointment only. Advise clients to bring a chaperone to help
ensure there is no misunderstanding or allegation of impropriety;
Body piercers should be aware that, based on the legal proceedings of Brown (1994) - where
the Court ruled that one could not consent to the infliction of grievous bodily harm - it is likely
that scarification, branding and related activities would be regarded as illegal under UK law.
The Courts have not been asked to rule on these as commercial activities, but as the can be
so extreme, the Courts could classify such levels of violence and harm to be unacceptable
to public policyΨ;
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The Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act
(1985) states that female genital mutilation;
cutting, piercing or otherwise surgically
modifying genitalia for non-medical reasons is,
illegal. Therefore, piercing the female genitalia
could be deemed an offence in a court of law;
23 Body Piercing / Guidance for operators