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Please note that the OMB number and expiration date may not have been determined when this Information Collection Request and associated Information Collection forms were submitted to OMB. The approved OMB number and expiration date may be found by clicking on the Notice of Action link below.
View ICR - OIRA Conclusion
OMB Control No:
3084-0127
ICR Reference No:
202008-3084-001
Status:
Historical Active
Previous ICR Reference No:
201910-3084-001
Agency/Subagency:
FTC
Agency Tracking No:
Title:
Contact Lens Rule
Type of Information Collection:
Revision of a currently approved collection
Common Form ICR:
No
Type of Review Request:
Regular
OIRA Conclusion Action:
Approved without change
Conclusion Date:
10/16/2020
Retrieve Notice of Action (NOA)
Date Received in OIRA:
08/17/2020
Terms of Clearance:
Inventory as of this Action
Requested
Previously Approved
Expiration Date
10/31/2023
36 Months From Approved
12/31/2022
Responses
154,747,800
0
64,747,800
Time Burden (Hours)
2,979,050
0
2,104,050
Cost Burden (Dollars)
591,300
0
0
Abstract:
The Contact Lens Rule which was effective in 2004, implemented the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumer Act of 2003 (15.U.S.C. 7601-7610). The Act seeks to enable consumers to purchase contact lenses from the seller of their choice. Among other things, the Act requires contact lens prescribers to provide contact lens prescriptions to their patients, and to provide or verify contact lens prescriptions to third parties designated by patients. On June 23, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission announced a Final Rule to enhance and further ensure compliance with the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act’s requirement that prescribers automatically provide their patients with a copy of their prescription upon completion of a contact lens fitting. The Final Rule requires prescribers to request that their patients confirm that they have received their prescription, and allows flexibility in the way the prescription and confirmation are provided. Prescribers must maintain proof that they satisfied the confirmation of prescription release requirement for at least three years. Eye doctors were already required by law to provide every patient with a copy of his or her contact lens prescription, allowing patients to comparison shop for lenses. This rule change will help to ensure that eye doctors fulfill their obligations, and will facilitate FTC enforcement of these important requirements. To address concerns about third-party sellers verifying prescriptions by leaving incomplete or incomprehensible automated telephone messages with prescribers, sellers who use automated telephone messages for verification must record the calls and preserve the recordings for three years. This will likely require a minimal amount of capital and other non-labor costs to record the calls and store them electronically.
Authorizing Statute(s):
PL:
Pub.L. 108 - 164 1-12
Name of Law: Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act
Citations for New Statutory Requirements:
None
Associated Rulemaking Information
RIN:
Stage of Rulemaking:
Federal Register Citation:
Date:
3084-AB36
Final or interim final rulemaking
85 FR 50668
08/17/2020
Federal Register Notices & Comments
Did the Agency receive public comments on this ICR?
No
Number of Information Collection (IC) in this ICR:
8
IC Title
Form No.
Form Name
Contact Lens Rule: Prescribers responding to verification requests
Contact Lens Rule: Third Party Sellers (not original prescribers) where verification and retention required
Contact Lens Rule: Prescribers with disclosure obligations to contact lens wearers
Contact Lens Rule: Third Party Sellers (not original prescribers) with recordkeeping obligations when verification not required
Part II of Prescriber's disclosure obligations to contact lens wearers who consent to electronic delivery of Confirmation of Prescription Release requirement
Part II of Prescriber's disclosure obligations to contact lens wearers who read, sign and return a confirmation statement
Prescriber's record retention obligations to contact lens wearers who consent to electronic delivery of Confirmation of Prescription Release requirement
Prescribers' Record Retention Requirement
ICR Summary of Burden
Total Approved
Previously Approved
Change Due to New Statute
Change Due to Agency Discretion
Change Due to Adjustment in Estimate
Change Due to Potential Violation of the PRA
Annual Number of Responses
154,747,800
64,747,800
0
90,000,000
0
0
Annual Time Burden (Hours)
2,979,050
2,104,050
0
875,000
0
0
Annual Cost Burden (Dollars)
591,300
0
0
591,300
0
0
Burden increases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion:
Yes
Burden Increase Due to:
Changing Regulations
Burden decreases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion:
No
Burden Reduction Due to:
Short Statement:
The Commission estimates that the amendments in the Final Rule will result in an additional 875,000 annual burden hours for all affected original contact lens prescribers, $19,900,000 in associated labor costs for prescribers, and $591,300 in capital/non-labor costs for third-party sellers. The estimated increase in burden is correlated with Rule modifications creating a verifiable enforcement mechanism to ensure that pre-existing Fairness to Contact Lens Consumer Act and Contact Lens Rule requirements that prescriptions be provided by the prescribers to patients are complied with. To further explain, the existing Rule already requires that prescriptions be provided by the prescribers to patients but there is no enforcement mechanism. The Rule amendment adds the enforcement mechanism to what the Rule already required. With more patients in possession of their prescriptions (due to increased prescription release), and a greater ability to present them to sellers, FTC staff anticipates a potential reduction in time-consuming prescription verifications from sellers to prescribers. Although FTC staff anticipates that these requirements will impose some additional burden on individual prescribers’ offices to satisfy the confirmations of prescription release requirements, FTC staff believes this burden will be relatively small in the context of the overall market for contact lenses and examinations. One survey estimated that the U.S. contact lens market totaled approximately $5 billion (not counting examination revenue) in 2017. See “Vision Markets See Continued Growth in 2017, VisionWatch Says,” Vision Monday, March 20, 2018, http://www.visionmonday.com/business/research-and-stats/article/vision-markets-see-continued-growth-in-2017-visionwatch-says/. Accordingly, the incremental burden associated with the Rule amendments would not have a significant impact on the contact lens market.
Annual Cost to Federal Government:
$52,000
Does this IC contain surveys, censuses, or employ statistical methods?
No
Does this ICR request any personally identifiable information (see
OMB Circular No. A-130
for an explanation of this term)? Please consult with your agency's privacy program when making this determination.
No
Does this ICR include a form that requires a Privacy Act Statement (see
5 U.S.C. §552a(e)(3)
)? Please consult with your agency's privacy program when making this determination.
No
Is this ICR related to the Affordable Care Act [Pub. L. 111-148 & 111-152]?
No
Is this ICR related to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, [Pub. L. 111-203]?
No
Is this ICR related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)?
No
Is this ICR related to the Pandemic Response?
No
Agency Contact:
Paul Spelman 202 325-2486 pspelman@ftc.gov
Common Form ICR:
No
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(a) It is necessary for the proper performance of agency functions;
(b) It avoids unnecessary duplication;
(c) It reduces burden on small entities;
(d) It uses plain, coherent, and unambiguous language that is understandable to respondents;
(e) Its implementation will be consistent and compatible with current reporting and recordkeeping practices;
(f) It indicates the retention periods for recordkeeping requirements;
(g) It informs respondents of the information called for under 5 CFR 1320.8 (b)(3) about:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
(h) It was developed by an office that has planned and allocated resources for the efficient and effective management and use of the information to be collected.
(i) It uses effective and efficient statistical survey methodology (if applicable); and
(j) It makes appropriate use of information technology.
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
Certification Date:
08/17/2020