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The Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act increases consumers’ ability to shop around when buying contact lenses. The Act gives consumers certain rights, imposes duties on contact lens prescribers and sellers, and requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to develop and enforce implementing rules. The FTC issued the Contact Lens Rule in July 2004 to spell out the Act’s requirements.

The Contact Lens Rule requires prescribers to give patients a copy of their contact lens prescriptions at the end of a contact lens fitting, even if the patient doesn’t ask for it. A patient who wants to buy contact lenses from another seller then may give the prescription to that seller. If a consumer doesn’t give his prescription to that seller, the seller must verify the prescription before selling the lenses.

The verification process works like this: the consumer provides prescription information to the seller, who then submits it to the prescriber in a verification request. The prescriber has eight-business-hours to respond. If the prescriber does not respond within the required time, the prescription is verified automatically, and the seller may provide contact lenses to the consumer.

Sellers may provide contact lenses only in accordance with a valid prescription that is directly presented to the seller or verified with the prescriber. That means sellers may provide contact lenses when the consumer presents his prescription in person, by fax, or by email if the prescription has been scanned and attached to the email. The consumer also can authorize the seller to verify his prescription via “direct communication” with the prescriber. (See next section, “What is direct communication?”.)

What is direct communication?

“Direct communication” is a completed communication by telephone, facsimile or electronic mail.

Direct communication by telephone requires reaching and speaking to the intended recipient, or leaving a voice message on the telephone answering machine of the intended recipient.

Direct communication by facsimile or electronic mail requires that the intended recipient actually receive the facsimile or electronic mail message.

For more details about compliance, see “Q&A: The Contact Lens Rule and the Eyeglass Rule” at www.ftc.gov.