[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. <all>