II 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Contact Lens Con5 sumer Protection Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CONTACT LENS CONSUMER PROTECTION. 

7 The Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act (15 

8 U.S.C. 7601 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 

9 7, the following new section: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 7A. POLICY REGARDING THE AVAILABILITY OF CON2 TACT LENSES. 

3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A manufacturer shall make any 

4 contact lens the manufacturer produces, markets, distrib5 utes, or sells available in a commercially reasonable and 

6 nondiscriminatory manner to— 

7 ‘‘(1) prescribers; 

8 ‘‘(2) entities associated with prescribers; and 

9 ‘‘(3) alternative channels of distribution. 

10 ‘‘(b) EXCLUSION.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec12 tion, the term ‘contact lens’ does not include lenses 

13 that are described in paragraph (2). 

14 ‘‘(2) LENSES DESCRIBED.—The lenses de15 scribed in this paragraph include— 

16 ‘‘(A) rigid gas permeable lenses; 

17 ‘‘(B) bitoric gas permeable lenses; 

18 ‘‘(C) bifocal gas permeable lenses; 

19 ‘‘(D) keratoconus lenses; 

20 ‘‘(E) custom soft toric lenses; and 

21 ‘‘(F) any other custom designed lenses 

22 that are manufactured for an individual patient 

23 and are not mass marketed or mass produced. 

24 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

25 ‘‘(1) ALTERNATIVE CHANNELS OF DISTRIBU26 TION.—The term ‘alternative channels of distribuVerDate Aug 31 2005 06:16 Mar 30, 2006 Jkt 049196 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2480.IS S2480

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1 tion’ means any mail order company, Internet re2 tailer, pharmacy, buying club, department store, or 

3 mass merchandise outlet, without regard to whether 

4 the entity is associated with a prescriber, unless the 

5 entity is a competitor as defined in paragraph (2). 

6 ‘‘(2) COMPETITOR.—The term ‘competitor’ 

7 means an entity that manufactures contact lenses 

8 and sells the lenses in direct competition with an9 other manufacturer. 

10 ‘‘(3) MANUFACTURER.—The term ‘manufac11 turer’ includes the manufacturer and the parent 

12 company of the manufacturer, and any subsidiaries, 

13 affiliates, successors, and assigns of the manufac14 turer. 

15 ‘‘(d) SAFE HARBOR FOR MANUFACTURERS.—Noth16 ing in this section shall be deemed to impose on a manu17 facturer an obligation to— 

18 ‘‘(1) sell to a competitor; 

19 ‘‘(2) sell contact lenses to different contact lens 

20 distributors or customers at the same price, con21 sistent with applicable Federal law; 

22 ‘‘(3) open or maintain any account for a seller 

23 who is not in substantial compliance with this Act; 

24 ‘‘(4) decide whether to sell to a low volume ac25 count directly or through a distributor; or 


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1 ‘‘(5) make available to sellers in all geographic 

2 areas lenses that are being test marketed on a lim3 ited basis in one geographic area. 

4 ‘‘(e) RULEMAKING.—The Federal Trade Commission 

5 shall prescribe rules to carry out this section in the same 

6 manner as set forth under section 8 of this Act and any 

7 rule prescribed under this section shall take effect not 

8 later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this 

9 Act. 

10 ‘‘(f) VIOLATIONS.—Any violation of this section or 

11 the rules required under subsection (e) shall be treated 

12 in the same manner as provided for under section 9 of 

13 this Act.’’. 

Æ 


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