[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2480 Introduced in Senate (IS)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2480

To amend the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act with respect to the 
                    availability of contact lenses.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 29, 2006

Mr. Bennett (for himself and Mr. Leahy) introduced the following bill; 
    which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 
                      Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act with respect to the 
                    availability of 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 Consumer Protection 
Act''.

SEC. 2. CONTACT LENS CONSUMER PROTECTION.

    The Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act (15 U.S.C. 7601 et seq.) 
is amended by inserting after section 7, the following new section:

``SEC. 7A. POLICY REGARDING THE AVAILABILITY OF CONTACT LENSES.

    ``(a) In General.--A manufacturer shall make any contact lens the 
manufacturer produces, markets, distributes, or sells available in a 
commercially reasonable and nondiscriminatory manner to--
            ``(1) prescribers;
            ``(2) entities associated with prescribers; and
            ``(3) alternative channels of distribution.
    ``(b) Exclusion.--
            ``(1) In general.--For purposes of this section, the term 
        `contact lens' does not include lenses that are described in 
        paragraph (2).
            ``(2) Lenses described.--The lenses described in this 
        paragraph include--
                    ``(A) rigid gas permeable lenses;
                    ``(B) bitoric gas permeable lenses;
                    ``(C) bifocal gas permeable lenses;
                    ``(D) keratoconus lenses;
                    ``(E) custom soft toric lenses; and
                    ``(F) any other custom designed lenses that are 
                manufactured for an individual patient and are not mass 
                marketed or mass produced.
    ``(c) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Alternative channels of distribution.--The term 
        `alternative channels of distribution' means any mail order 
        company, Internet retailer, pharmacy, buying club, department 
        store, or mass merchandise outlet, without regard to whether 
        the entity is associated with a prescriber, unless the entity 
        is a competitor as defined in paragraph (2).
            ``(2) Competitor.--The term `competitor' means an entity 
        that manufactures contact lenses and sells the lenses in direct 
        competition with another manufacturer.
            ``(3) Manufacturer.--The term `manufacturer' includes the 
        manufacturer and the parent company of the manufacturer, and 
        any subsidiaries, affiliates, successors, and assigns of the 
        manufacturer.
    ``(d) Safe Harbor for Manufacturers.--Nothing in this section shall 
be deemed to impose on a manufacturer an obligation to--
            ``(1) sell to a competitor;
            ``(2) sell contact lenses to different contact lens 
        distributors or customers at the same price, consistent with 
        applicable Federal law;
            ``(3) open or maintain any account for a seller who is not 
        in substantial compliance with this Act;
            ``(4) decide whether to sell to a low volume account 
        directly or through a distributor; or
            ``(5) make available to sellers in all geographic areas 
        lenses that are being test marketed on a limited basis in one 
        geographic area.
    ``(e) Rulemaking.--The Federal Trade Commission shall prescribe 
rules to carry out this section in the same manner as set forth under 
section 8 of this Act and any rule prescribed under this section shall 
take effect not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of 
this Act.
    ``(f) Violations.--Any violation of this section or the rules 
required under subsection (e) shall be treated in the same manner as 
provided for under section 9 of this Act.''.
                                 <all>