FDA withdrew its proposed under-18 tanning rule: what changes for salons, and what doesn't

What FDA withdrew on March 16, 2026

On March 16, 2026, the Food and Drug Administration published a notice in the Federal Register (91 FR 12524, docket FDA-2015-N-1765) withdrawing its proposed rule "General and Plastic Surgery Devices: Restricted Sale, Distribution, and Use of Sunlamp Products," first published on December 22, 2015 (80 FR 79493). In its summary, FDA said it took this step because it "no longer intends to finalize the proposed rule." The withdrawal took effect the day the notice was published.

The 2015 proposal was aimed mainly at tanning facility operators, which FDA described as any person offering for sale the use of sunlamp products. FDA said people using their own beds at home would not count as operators. Had it been finalized, it would have:

• Barred operators from letting anyone under 18 use a tanning bed or booth.
• Required every adult client to sign an FDA-worded risk acknowledgement certification before a session, unless they had signed one in the previous six months.
• Required the salon to give the client a copy of the signed form and keep its own copy for one year, or until the client signed a new one, whichever came first.
• Required operators to hand over the unit's user manual on request, or the name and address of the maker or distributor who could supply it.

FDA received more than 8,100 comments on the proposal. In the withdrawal notice it pointed to scientific and technical concerns raised in those comments, concerns about possible unintended consequences, and alternatives that commenters suggested. It said it was withdrawing the proposal "in order to reconsider the best means for addressing the issues covered by the Proposed Rule and related issues regarding access to sunlamp products."

Is there a federal age limit for tanning?

No. The 2015 proposal would have been the federal age limit, and it never took effect. FDA had planned for a final rule to start 90 days after publication, and no final rule was ever published. With the proposal withdrawn, no federal regulation sets a minimum age for salon clients.

What federal law does have is labeling. FDA's final order of June 2, 2014 (79 FR 31205, effective September 2, 2014) moved tanning beds and booths from class I to class II medical devices and set special controls, now codified at 21 CFR 878.4635. One of them is a black-box warning that must be permanently fixed to every sunlamp product, readable whether the canopy or door is open or closed, in text at least 10 millimeters tall:

Attention: This sunlamp product should not be used on persons under the age of 18 years.

Manufacturers must also list use on persons under 18 as a contraindication in their user instructions, catalogs, brochures and the web pages where the products are sold. These are labeling rules, aimed mainly at manufacturers, not a federal age check on the salon. The separate performance standard at 21 CFR 1040.20, which covers timers, protective eyewear and the warning label, sets no minimum age either. Our guide to FDA tanning bed regulations walks through both rules.

What the withdrawal does not change

• The under-18 label stays. It lives in 21 CFR 878.4635, which comes from the 2014 order, not from the withdrawn proposal. For units already shipped to salons before September 2, 2014 whose model was discontinued, the 2014 order set August 26, 2015 as the labeling deadline and said that if the manufacturer is no longer in business, owners "would have to apply the required labeling."
• The performance standard at 21 CFR 1040.20 still applies. FDA also proposed amendments to it on December 22, 2015 (80 FR 79505), and the withdrawal notice says those amendments "are not affected by this withdrawal." As of September 29, 2026, the Federal Register lists no final rule on them.
• State law stands on its own. Had the restriction been finalized, FDA said it would have created a federal device requirement, which can preempt certain state requirements that are "different from or in addition to" it, with a process for states to ask for an exemption. With the proposal gone, that question does not arise.
• FDA can start over. The notice says the withdrawal "does not preclude the Agency from reinstituting rulemaking" and that FDA would first publish a new proposed rule with a new chance to comment.

State law still decides who can tan

FDA's 2015 proposal said more than 40 states had age restrictions on tanning bed use, with age limits ranging from 14 to 18. The rules differ in kind as well as in age. Two examples from the states' own sources:

• California: Business and Professions Code section 22706(b)(3) reads, "Persons under 18 years of age are prohibited from using an ultraviolet tanning device." See California tanning laws.
• Pennsylvania: section 8 of the Indoor Tanning Regulation Act (2014 Act 41) says no one 16 or younger may use a tanning facility, and a 17-year-old may use one only with the written authorization of a parent or legal guardian. The Department of Health states the same rule. See Pennsylvania tanning laws.

In a state with an outright ban, a parent's signature does not make a minor eligible. In a state that allows minors with consent, the state's own law sets the form of that consent and who must give it. Look up your state on the tanning laws by state page, and see tanning salon license requirements by state for registration and inspection rules.

What to do at the front desk

1. Change nothing about who you let tan. Your state's minimum age applied before March 16, 2026 and applies now. The news means only that no federal age rule is coming for now.
2. Get a date of birth from every UV client before their first session and check it against a government-issued photo ID. Some states spell out what counts: California's section 22706 accepts a driver's license or other government-issued ID showing the date of birth and a photo. Record the date of birth once on the client's file so staff are not re-asking at every visit.
3. Where your state allows minors with consent, get that consent on the state's terms before the first session and keep it with the client's record. Where your state bans minors, turn them away, with or without a parent.
4. Run your consent paperwork on your state's schedule, not the withdrawn rule's. The six-month federal re-sign cycle and one-year retention never took effect. What your form must say, how often clients sign it and how long you keep it come from state law. See tanning consent forms and tanning salon recordkeeping.
5. Walk the floor and check that every bed and booth carries the black-box under-18 label. If one is missing, ask the manufacturer for a replacement. For a unit shipped before September 2, 2014 whose maker is out of business, the 2014 order said owners would have to apply the label themselves.
6. Give staff one answer for clients and parents who ask: no federal rule sets an age limit for tanning, the salon follows state law, and every bed carries FDA's warning that it should not be used on anyone under 18. Do not present the withdrawal as FDA approval of tanning for teens, at the desk or in ads. See tanning salon advertising claims.
7. Put a re-check date on the calendar. Any new federal age rule would start as a proposed rule in the Federal Register with a comment period, so you would see it coming. Watch your state legislature too.

Timeline of the federal under-18 rule

Could the rule come back?

Yes. FDA wrote that it "continues to consider regulatory initiatives related to sunlamp products" and that nothing in the withdrawal stops it from starting again. If it does, it has said it will publish a new proposed rule and open a new comment period first. The American Academy of Dermatology Association issued a statement the same day encouraging FDA to reintroduce the proposed rule.

The withdrawal covers only the 2015 restriction proposal and "not any other pending proposals that the Agency has issued or is considering." This page was last checked against the Federal Register on September 29, 2026.

How TanVision helps at the desk

TanVision will not start a session until the client has a signed consent form and a date of birth on file, and the screen says what is missing. The minimum age for UV tanning is 18 by default and set at Settings > Tanning rules, and a minor without guardian consent on file cannot start a session either; where your state bans minors from UV outright, set Minors and UV rooms to No and check-in refuses UV rooms to them even with consent on file. Age is worked out from the date of birth already on the client's record, not one typed in at the desk. Clients fill in and sign the consent form on their own phone or a salon tablet, and the signed record keeps the exact wording they agreed to. See check-in for the rest of the desk flow, or book a demo.