The Final Rule also includes changes to reduce illegal prescription alterations by contact lens sellers. It requires sellers to provide a way in which consumers can prominently present their prescriptions. The seller must clearly disclose that method to consumers before requesting the prescriber’s contact information to verify the prescription.
FTC calls on Congress to fix Contact Lens Consumers Act
FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter noted that the Contact Lens Rule implements the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act of 2003. She also stated that the Final Rule was updated with “reasonable compromises that further the Act’s purpose of empowering consumers when shopping for lenses.”
In addition, Commissioner Slaughter said an “anticompetitive dynamic” exists in the U.S. contact lens market. She encouraged Congress to “consider a narrow legislative fix to the current Act” to “further empower consumers and promote competition among contact lens sellers.”
“My hope is that policymakers do not see this Final Notice of Rulemaking as the final step in the long journey to improve the contact-lens market for American consumers. We have more work to do,” wrote Commissioner Slaughter in a released statement.
