[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5195 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5195

  To require the Federal Trade Commission to issue a trade regulation 
  rule which requires the release of prescriptions for contact lenses.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 5, 1994

  Mr. Stark introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require the Federal Trade Commission to issue a trade regulation 
  rule which requires the release of prescriptions for contact lenses.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Contact Lens Prescription Release 
Act''.

SEC. 2. PRESCRIPTIONS FOR CONTACT LENSES.

    (a) In General.--The Federal Trade Commission shall amend its trade 
regulation rule on ophthalmic practice published at 16 C.F.R. 456 to 
require the release of a prescription for contact lenses after the 
contact lens fitting process is completed regardless of whether or not 
the patient requests the prescription.
    (b) Definitions.--For purposes of subsection (a)--
            (1) the term ``prescription'' means the specifications 
        necessary to obtain contact lenses and includes data on the 
        refractive status of patient's eyes,
            (2) the term ``contact lenses fitting process is 
        completed'' means the process which begins after the initial 
        eye examination and includes an examination to determine what 
        the lens specifications should be, the purchase of hard or soft 
        lenses, and an initial evaluation of the fit of the lens on the 
        patient's eyes and follow-up examinations over a period of 
        approximately 6 months and is completed when the lens fitter is 
        satisfied that a successful fit has been achieved.

SEC. 3. EFFECT ON STATE LAW.

    The prescription release requirement of section 2 does not affect 
any State law which permits the release of prescriptions for contact 
lenses on terms which are not more restrictive than the terms of 
section 1 or regulates who is to be legally permitted to fit contact 
lenses.
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