I’m starting to think that Denmark doesn’t like tattoos.
Back in February, I posted a link to an article about the Danish prison system’s ban on tattoos in the workplace for guards. That was quite surprising considering how liberal of a country Denmark is and that Copenhagen in particular has a strong legacy of very good tattoo artists. I myself still have plans to get to Copenhagen one day in search of the highly skilled Uncle Allan.
Despite this, Copenhagen once again finds itself in the spotlight, this time for handing out a 1,000 kroner ($131 USD, £87 GBP) fine to a tattoo artist who dared to do his job and tattoo a customer’s face. Denmark apparently has a law dating back to 1996 which forbids a tattoo artist from tattooing a person’s head, neck, or hands. All together now: WHAT?
I know, I know…that is completely insane. What really gets me about the whole thing is that the law is from 1996! It wouldn’t be that surprising if the law came from 1886, but 1996? It just blows me away.
I don’t have a lot of information on the issue, but from the information that this tiny article supplies, it seems that the cops were just waiting around outside of the shop to bust the guy who had just had his face tattooed. I guess the cops in Copenhagen don’t have anything better to do. Not that I’m trying to suggest anything disparaging about Copenhagen, but dudes need to sort this one out. A law like that is a total step backwards in time.
If there are any Danes out there who can fill me in more on this story, I’d love to hear from you. In the meantime, come on, Copenhagen. Get rid of that law.
Tags: copenhagen denmark, Dislike, Face tattoos, hand tattoos, illegal to tattoo face in copenhagen, neck tattoos, News, Tattoo Artists, tattoo blog, uncle allan, Workforce
May 7th, 2010 at 8:12 pm
Thats crazy I didnt know that some places were so strict about tattoos on the face. That is way to strict in my opinion.
May 13th, 2010 at 5:42 am
I think it was our old king Christian who in 1960’s or so, suggested the law to the government and since then its illegal for artists to tattoo in the face and hands. The weird thing about that, is that the King himself had many Old school tattooes around the body.
November 5th, 2010 at 5:16 am
it wery simpel, our old king made this law because he was tirred of seeing STUPID tattoos in the face of drunk sailors who lost some stupid bet, who couldent get a job because of the face tattooz..
Himself, heavyly tattoed, loved to “dress down” as a normal citizen and go to “Nyhavn”, and drink and get tattooed, at that time a rough place full of hookers, bars, tattoists and a good chance of getting robed.
The story about the tattooist who got a fine, is that he would get free tattooz for life if he got the studios logo in the face -and this is where our kings law should have worked !!! - buy the way the law is from the 8 of june 1966..and you will find pics of the guy on toxicinc.dk - galleri - andet..
April 21st, 2011 at 4:59 pm
I am a danish tattoo enthusiast and I have quite a lot of tattoos. The laws here stand, there is very few tattoo artists that will do your face/hands/neck. I want my neck and my hands tattood, and I can’t get it anywhere here. The penalty on the tattoo artist is a fine or up to 4 months in prison, as far as I can read on danish laws. I have to take a train to Helsingør, cross the water with a ferry to Helsingborg to have my neck and hands tattood. Face I can understand. But hands and neck? really? Oh well. Our rules are stupid as hell.