Naver's Smart Place has fully opened its platform to tattoo shops. After the Supreme Court ruled last month that non-medical professionals cannot be punished for performing tattoo procedures as unlicensed medical acts, overturning a precedent for the first time in 34 years, Naver changed its policy so that tattoo shops run by non-medical professionals can join Smart Place in step with the ruling.
According to Naver on the 18th, Naver Smart Place recently announced, "In line with the Supreme Court's change in precedent, Smart Place will also change its registration and operation standards for tattoo and semi-permanent makeup businesses." Smart Place is a service that lets business owners register their stores on Naver to accept real-time reservations.
Until now, tattoo shops had to qualify as medical professionals or medical institutions to register with Naver Smart Place. That was because, under a 1992 Supreme Court precedent, only medical professionals or medical institutions could legally perform tattoos. Tattoo procedures by non-medical professionals were subject to punishment for violating the Medical Service Act.
Naver had put registrations on hold or deleted them if a business owner running a tattoo shop was not a medical professional or medical institution, but going forward it will allow non-medical professionals to register on Smart Place. It will skip the process of verifying whether they are medical professionals or institutions and allow tattoo and semi-permanent makeup details to be included when setting representative keywords and business images. It also added tattoos and semi-permanent makeup as new business categories on Smart Place.
Smart Place is linked to Naver's integrated search and map services, which hold the top domestic search share, and appears first in local searches, so the move is expected to influence the mainstreaming of tattoos. When you search "Seoul tattoo" on Naver, tattoo shops appear in the results, and customers can book and pay for tattoos on Naver without going through Instagram DMs.
Earlier, the Supreme Court en banc on May 21 found in a lettering and scalp tattoo case that non-medical professionals cannot be punished for performing tattoos as unlicensed medical acts. It changed the 1992 precedent that had deemed tattooing a medical act for the first time in 34 years. The Supreme Court en banc acknowledged changing times, saying, "Tattoos are no longer the preserve of a few groups but have taken root as a culture that the general public can naturally encounter."
Separately, the National Assembly enacted the Tattooist Act in September last year to legalize tattoo procedures by non-medical professionals. Starting in Oct. next year, those who pass a national qualification exam and obtain a license will be able to perform tattoos legally. They must meet requirements for facilities and equipment.
Ha Chae-eun, managing attorney at Maeil Law Office and international director at the Korean Bar Association, who led the change in precedent at the Supreme Court en banc, said, "After Naver's notice, most business owners engaged in tattoo and semi-permanent makeup operations rushed to register on Smart Place," adding, "With advertising and marketing picking up, we expect tattoos and semi-permanent makeup to become mainstream."