The Rule implements 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. Sellers who seek
verification of contact lens prescriptions must retain one or two
records for each contact lens sale: Either the relevant
prescription itself, or the verification request and any response
from the prescriber.
The current estimate of
1,594,981 annual burden hours is higher than the estimates
submitted to OMB in 2009 (the similar figure was 850,000 hours in
2009). There are no program changes. The increased estimates for
burden hours and labor costs from the FTC's prior clearance request
are due to an increase in the estimated number of contact lens
wearers [34 million (2008) to 38 million (2012)], staff's belief
that the percentage of sales in the industry that requires
obtaining or verifying a prescription is currently higher than what
was previously estimated (10% in 2009 and 35.9% in 2012), and the
first time inclusion into the estimate of time that prescribers'
offices expend responding to verification requests from other
sellers (see the IC category for Contact Lens Rule: Prescribers
responding to verification requests).
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:
(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;
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.