Vermont tanning laws for salon owners

What Vermont's tanning law covers

Vermont has one tanning statute, 18 V.S.A. § 1513, added in the 2012 session (2011, No. 97 (Adj. Sess.)). It bars anyone under 18 from using tanning equipment, sets civil penalties, and requires a posted notice. It covers any place that gives people access to tanning equipment, including salons, health clubs, apartments and condominiums, whether or not a fee is charged.

We ran the legislature's full-text statute search for "tanning". Besides § 1513, it returned the Judicial Bureau's jurisdiction list, a court-procedure section about hides in the process of tanning, and a fish and wildlife rule on furbearing species. The match inside the jurisdiction list sits more than 2,500 characters into that section, so the search reads section text, not just headings.

Section 1513(e) tells the Commissioner of Health to adopt rules. The Secretary of State's rule-posting database, which lists filings since 2010, has no rule with "tanning" in its title or summary and none that cites § 1513 as its authority. The official Code of Vermont Rules is published through LexisNexis, which we did not search, so ask the Department of Health if you need certainty about rules.

The last change was wording only: Act 6 of 2023 rephrased the age in subsections (c) and (f)(1), effective July 1, 2023. A full-text search of every bill in the 2023-2024 and 2025-2026 sessions for "tanning" found one other bill on the section, H.362, which would have reworded the physician exemption. It has only an introduced version and no act number, and § 1513 still reads as quoted here.

At the front desk

1. Under 18: no tanning equipment, even with a parent's permission. The statute has no consent exception.
2. Check age before the first session. Section 1513(c) does not mention what the operator knew, so check a date of birth and note how you checked it.
3. Post the Department of Health's notice in a conspicuous place in each facility. It is the one-page Vermont tanning notice.
4. Spray tanning: the ban covers equipment that emits radiation in the ultraviolet range, so the state sets no spray age.

The civil penalty is up to $100 for a first offense and up to $500 for any later offense, and the case is heard in the Judicial Bureau. For federal rules on the equipment itself, see FDA tanning bed regulations and the FDA's withdrawn under-18 proposal.

What the state leaves to you

With no state statute, and no state rule we could find, on warning statements, session spacing, records, eyewear, lamps or timers, those choices sit with you and with any local rules where you operate. Our guides on tanning consent forms, tanning salon recordkeeping, tanning bed eye protection and tanning bed timer rules show what other states require.

How TanVision helps

With TanVision's consent forms, clients sign on their own phone or a tablet, and the signed record keeps the signature and the exact wording they agreed to. A session cannot start without a signed statement and a date of birth on file, and age is checked against the date of birth already on file. For UV rooms, exposure safety refuses a typed time above the limit or the room's own maximum; the limits follow the salon's own settings, capped at each unit's maximum.

TanVision's minimum age is 18 by default, the same as Vermont's. Set Minors and UV rooms to No at Settings > Tanning rules, and check-in refuses UV rooms to every client under 18, even with guardian consent on file; at Yes, the default, consent on file lets them start any room, UV included, with only a warning. Scan ID reads a client's date of birth from the barcode on a US or Canadian driver's license or ID card with a USB 2D scanner and records the day the ID was checked; it does not compare the photo with the person. Client records show recent visits, newest first. Compare neighboring Massachusetts and New York, or see the state list.