(A) An operator or employee of a business that performs tattooing services, body piercing services, or ear piercing services performed with an ear piercing gun may not be found guilty of a violation of division (A) of section 3730.06 of the Revised Code or any rule adopted under section 3730.10 of the Revised Code in which age is an element of the provisions of the rule, if the board of health or any court of record finds all of the following:

(1) That the individual obtaining a tattooing service, body piercing service, or ear piercing service performed with an ear piercing gun, at the time of so doing, exhibited to the operator or employee of the tattooing, body piercing, or ear piercing business a driver's or commercial driver's license or an identification card issued under sections 4507.50 to 4507.52 of the Revised Code showing that the individual was then at least age eighteen;

(2) That the operator or employee made a bona fide effort to ascertain the true age of the individual obtaining a tattooing, body piercing, or ear piercing service by checking the identification presented, at the time of the service, to ascertain that the description on the identification compared with the appearance of the individual and that the identification had not been altered in any way;

(3) That the operator or employee had reason to believe that the individual obtaining a tattooing, body piercing, or ear piercing service was at least age eighteen.

(B) In any hearing before a board of health and in any action or proceeding before a court of record in which a defense is raised under this section, the registrar of motor vehicles or the registrar's deputy who issued a driver's or commercial driver's license or an identification card under sections 4507.50 to 4507.52 of the Revised Code shall be permitted to submit certified copies of the records, in the registrar's or deputy's possession, of such issuance in lieu of the testimony of the personnel of the bureau of motor vehicles at such hearing, action, or proceeding.

Effective Date: 01-12-1998.