Oregon tanning laws for salon owners

Who regulates tanning in Oregon

The Oregon Health Authority's Radiation Protection Services tanning program registers tanning devices and inspects facilities under ORS 453.726 to 453.734 and OAR chapter 333, division 119. The rules still cite the statutes' former numbers, ORS 431.925 to 431.955. OHA can impose a civil penalty of up to $500 per violation (ORS 453.731). Cities and counties can add business and building requirements.

At the front desk

1. At the first visit, see the client's ID and record its type and number with their name and date of birth (OAR 333-119-0110(4)). The rule applies to every client, not only those who look young.
2. Determine the client's Fitzpatrick skin type and record it (0090(8)), then have them review and sign the warning statement and acknowledge the photosensitizing drug list (0050, 0110(2)). Repeat the signature at least once a year.
3. Turn away anyone under 18 unless they bring a completed Oregon Underage Tanning Medical Recommendation form and identification. Copy the ID, keep both, and keep every session inside the form's dates, frequency and minutes (0090(2), 0110(3)).
4. Before each session, make sure the client has approved eyewear (0070(3)). Show each client the maximum exposure time, the right distance and the emergency shut-off (0090(4)). Only one client may be in the tanning room (0090(1)).
5. The operator sets the remote timer: never above the manufacturer's maximum or 20 minutes, and never so that the client passes the manufacturer's maximum within 24 hours (0090(6), 0100(11), (13)).
6. Log the date and duration of the session (0110(1)).

Signs, cleaning and equipment

• Post the warning sign within one meter of each device, the under-18 notice in at least 36-point type at or near reception, OHA's Notice to the Public and the registration certificate (0060, 0090(3), 0030(6), 0020(6)).
• Keep the manufacturer's exposure schedule at each device's timer controls and the photosensitizing agent list where clients can read it (0090(7), (9)).
• Staff, not clients, sanitize each device and pair of eyewear after every use with a fresh towel, using quaternary ammonium at 400 to 800 ppm and a test kit when the solution is mixed and weekly (0041).
• Test each timer and emergency shut-off once a year and record the results. Token-only and mechanical timer systems are not allowed (0100(16), (17); 0090(10)).
• Keep each device's owner's manual and each lamp equivalency certificate, and use a State of Oregon licensed electrician for electrical supply work (0110(6), 0100(4), (7)).
• Do not advertise tanning as safe or healthy, or mention your OHA registration in ads (0120).

Spray tans, lamps and memberships

Spray tanning with a handheld airbrush that applies the solution without physical contact is exempt from Oregon's cosmetology licensing law (ORS 690.025(1)(j)). Oregon's ban on selling fluorescent lamps does not apply to tanning lamps (ORS 459.485, 459.488(2)(f)); the 2026 session amended ORS 459.488 and kept that exemption (Oregon Laws 2026, chapter 38).

Oregon's health spa law covers a business engaged primarily in selling the right to use tanning booths (ORS 646A.030(4)). Such a business gives prospective buyers a written price list and sells only the plans on it, and a membership contract must be in writing, run no longer than three years and include the buyer's three-business-day right to cancel (ORS 646A.032, 646A.034). The membership auto-renewal guide covers renewal terms.

What has changed recently

OHA amended four tanning rules effective July 2, 2026 (PH 28-2026): the training topics moved from the definition of operator into OAR 333-119-0080, the electrician rule was reworded, and a cross-reference in the minors rule was corrected. The under-18 rule itself, the fee and the record rules did not change. The $175 fee has applied since January 1, 2022. In the 2025 edition of the ORS, the tanning sections were last amended in 2021, and none of the 142 laws of the 2026 session changes them. The under-18 ban has applied since January 1, 2014 (Oregon Laws 2013, chapter 137).

How TanVision helps

With TanVision's consent forms, clients sign on their own phone or a tablet, and you can add your own required questions, such as the ID type and number Oregon asks you to record. With a USB 2D barcode scanner, Scan ID reads the name and date of birth from the barcode on a driver's license or ID card and records the day the ID was checked, but it never reads or keeps the ID number, so keep that question, and staff still look at the photo. TanVision also does not ask clients to sign again after a year, so when the yearly statement falls due, the client signs again through the same link.

The minimum age is 18 by default, which matches Oregon. With Minors and UV rooms at Yes, the default at Settings > Tanning rules, guardian consent on file lets a client under the minimum age start any room, UV included, with only a warning, so record it only for a minor whose physician form you hold, and keep their sessions inside that form yourself. At No, check-in refuses UV rooms to every client under 18, physician form or not, while consent still opens spray rooms. With skin typing on, exposure safety will not start a UV room without a Fitzpatrick type on file and refuses a typed time over the room's maximum, so set each room's maximum to 20 minutes or the manufacturer's maximum, whichever is less. Each client record shows recent visits, newest first. Compare other states on the tanning laws by state page, starting with neighboring Washington.