Frequently Asked Questions
What is MOCRA?MOCRA is a U.S. cosmetics law that affects tattoo and PMU ink manufacturers because FDA considers these inks cosmetic products.
What is TIMA?TIMA is a trade alliance focused on helping the tattoo industry understand regulations, strengthen safety practices, and build a more unified voice.
What is APT?APT is a professional tattoo organization focused on education, safety, and supporting tattooers.
What is NEHA?NEHA is a professional association that supports environmental health professionals through training, credentials, and public health resources.
What is REACH?REACH is Europe’s chemical safety regulation. It matters to tattoo and PMU products sold in the EU because it can restrict certain substances and set compliance expectations.
What is Inktegrity?Inktegrity helps make tattoo product safety and regulatory education easier to understand, more transparent, and more accessible.
What is APP?APP is a professional organization focused on body piercing safety, education, and best practices.
Why does my participation matter?Your participation matters because the future of tattooing will be shaped by the people who show up, speak up, and help build responsible solutions.
What is at risk for the industry?We combine a thoughtful, human-centered approach with clear communication and reliable results. It’s not just what we do—it’s how we do it that sets us apart.
What is AFDO?AFDO is a regulatory and public health organization that works to improve consistency across laws, regulations, and safety guidance.
What's at stake for tattooing?What’s at stake is the future of safe, accessible, professionally made tattoo products and the industry’s ability to help shape its own standards.
Why are tattoo inks being talked about like cosmetics?Because FDA considers tattoo and PMU inks to be cosmetic products, even though tattooing itself is usually regulated at the state or local level.
Does MOCRA apply to tattoo artists?Usually not in the same direct way it applies to manufacturers, but artists can absolutely be affected by the downstream impact.
Does REACH affect US companies?Yes, if you want to sell into Europe, REACH matters.
Does FDA approve tattoo inks before they go to market?Not generally, but that does not mean “anything goes.” Products still must meet legal safety and labeling requirements.
Why is documentation becoming so important?Because in today’s regulatory world, if it is not documented, it is much harder to defend.
What is safety substantiation?Safety substantiation means having real support behind your claim that a product is safe for intended use.
What is product listing?Product listing is part of the FDA submission process for certain cosmetic products under MOCRA.
What is facility registration?Facility registration is how certain cosmetic manufacturing facilities identify themselves to FDA under MOCRA
Why should artists care about manufacturing standards?Because the quality of what happens in manufacturing directly affects what happens in the studio.
Is this just about compliance?This is not just about rules. It is about protecting the future of the industry.
What is SPCP?SPCP is a professional organization focused on education, safety, and standards for permanent makeup (PMU) practitioners.
How is permanent makeup (PMU) different from traditional tattooing?PMU is cosmetic tattooing focused on beauty applications like brows and lips, often operating closer to the cosmetics industry than traditional tattooing.
Why is SPCP relevant to TIMA?SPCP matters because PMU practitioners are directly affected by cosmetic regulations that also impact tattoo ink manufacturers.
What is TIMA?
TIMA stands for Tattoo Industry Manufacturers Alliance. It is a trade organization built to help unite manufacturers, practitioners, and other stakeholders around safety, standards, education, and regulatory awareness in the tattoo and permanent makeup space.
What is Inktegrity?
Inktegrity is the educational and transparency-focused initiative connected to TIMA. Its purpose is to help the industry better understand product safety, documentation, regulatory expectations, and responsible manufacturing practices.
What is MOCRA?
MOCRA stands for the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022. It is a U.S. law that expanded the FDA’s authority over cosmetics. Because tattoo inks and permanent makeup inks are treated by FDA as cosmetics, MOCRA matters to parts of the tattoo industry, especially manufacturers and brand owners. FDA describes MOCRA as the most significant expansion of its cosmetics authority since 1938.
What is REACH?
REACH is a major European chemical regulation. The name stands for Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals. It applies to chemical substances in the European market and is designed to improve protection of human health and the environment. For tattoo and PMU products sold into Europe, REACH can directly affect ingredients, formulations, and market access.
What is APT?
APT stands for the Alliance of Professional Tattooists. It is a membership-driven professional organization focused on health, safety, education, and the preservation of tattooing. APT traces its origins to 1991 and gained nonprofit status in 1992.
What is APP?
APP stands for the Association of Professional Piercers. It is a nonprofit organization dedicated to sharing health and safety information related to body piercing for piercers, healthcare professionals, legislators, and the public.
What is SPCP?
SPCP stands for the Society of Permanent Cosmetic Professionals. It is a professional organization focused on education, safety, and standards for permanent makeup (PMU) and cosmetic tattooing practitioners.
SPCP provides training resources, conferences, certification opportunities, and guidance aimed at improving professionalism and safety in the permanent cosmetics industry.
How is permanent makeup (PMU) different from traditional tattooing?
Permanent makeup (PMU) is a form of cosmetic tattooing typically used to enhance facial features like brows, lips, and eyeliner. While it uses similar tools and pigments, it is often marketed and regulated differently because it falls closer to the beauty/cosmetics space.
Why is SPCP relevant to TIMA?
SPCP represents a large portion of practitioners who rely heavily on tattoo pigments, devices, and cosmetic-style products. Because PMU products are often regulated as cosmetics, SPCP members are directly impacted by laws like MOCRA and international regulations.
What is AFDO?
AFDO stands for the Association of Food and Drug Officials. It is an organization focused on public health, regulatory collaboration, and greater uniformity in laws, regulations, and guidelines involving areas such as foods, drugs, devices, cosmetics, and consumer products.
What is NEHA?
NEHA stands for the National Environmental Health Association. It is a professional organization that supports environmental health professionals through education, advocacy, certification, and resources.
Why does my participation matter?
Because regulations, safety standards, and public perception are not shaped in a vacuum. If manufacturers, tattooers, PMU professionals, distributors, educators, and other stakeholders are not involved, decisions can still be made, just without enough real-world industry input.
What’s at stake for tattooing?
A lot. Product availability. Ingredient access. Manufacturing expectations. Labeling. Documentation. Cost of compliance. Consumer trust. Artist confidence. Public safety. And ultimately, whether tattooing gets represented fairly by people who actually understand the industry.
Why are tattoo inks being talked about like cosmetics?
FDA says inks used in intradermal tattoos, including permanent makeup, fall within the definition of cosmetics under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The practice of tattooing itself is generally regulated locally, but the ink products can fall under FDA cosmetics oversight.
Does MOCRA apply to tattoo artists?
Usually, MOCRA is most directly relevant to manufacturers, processors, brand owners, and responsible persons connected to cosmetic products. Tattoo artists may still feel the effects indirectly through product availability, labeling changes, safety expectations, recalls, and market shifts. This is a practical industry interpretation based on FDA’s framework for cosmetic product regulation.
Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act 2022 (MOCRA)
Registration and Listing of Cosmetic Products Facilities and Products (FDA)
Does REACH affect US companies?
Yes, if a U.S. company wants to sell products into the European market, REACH can matter because it governs chemical compliance in the EU and can affect what substances are allowed or restricted there.
Does FDA approve tattoo inks before they go to market?
Not in the broad way many people assume. FDA says cosmetic products and ingredients generally do not require premarket approval, except for color additives, but the products still must not be adulterated or misbranded. FDA also states that pigments in tattoo inks are color additives, which are subject to premarket approval under the law.
Why is documentation becoming so important?
Because modern regulation is not just about what you make. It is also about what you can prove. Documentation supports product identity, manufacturing controls, traceability, safety substantiation, labeling, and response readiness if a problem occurs. That is a practical summary of the direction of current FDA cosmetics oversight under MOCRA.
Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act 2022 (MOCRA)
Registration and Listing of Cosmetic Products Facilities and Products (FDA)
What is safety substantiation?
In plain language, it means having evidence that supports that a cosmetic product is safe under its intended conditions of use. Under MOCRA, responsible persons must maintain records supporting adequate substantiation of safety.
What is product listing?
Under MOCRA, certain cosmetic product information must be submitted to FDA, and certain cosmetic product facilities must register, unless an exemption applies.
Registration and Listing of Cosmetic Products Facilities and Products (FDA)
What is facility registration?
It is the process by which certain cosmetic manufacturing or processing facilities register with FDA under MOCRA, unless exempt. FDA has published a registration and listing portal and guidance materials for this process.
Registration and Listing of Cosmetic Products Facilities and Products (FDA)
Guidance for Industry: Registration and Listing of Cosmetic Product Facilities and Products (FDA)
Why should artists care about manufacturing standards?
Because artists rely on safe, consistent, traceable products. Better manufacturing standards help protect clients, reduce risk, improve confidence, and strengthen the long-term credibility of the industry.
Is this just about compliance?
No. It is also about credibility, professionalism, product quality, public trust, and making sure tattooing is represented by informed people instead of being defined only from the outside.