A significant step towards the prosecution of non-registrants who contravene the Opticians Act has been taken by the General Optical Council (GOC) at its meeting in Harley Street on January 28.
At the moment no prosecutions are being conducted under the Opticians Act 1989 for any of the offences listed there.
With the aim of 'vigorously pursuing appropriate cases' under the act, the Council agreed that its protocol for the investigation and prosecution of suspected criminal offences should be revised.
David Howell, director of regulatory services for the GOC, explained that prosecutions were not conducted as a result of the complex procedures under the current protocol, the reluctance of the police to intervene and the lack of staff to deal with the issue.
Decisions on whether to conduct prosecutions are currently taken by the investigation committee whose role is limited to making a recommendation to the appropriate authorities in each country.
Howell recommended to Council that it delegate to the registrar and not the investigation committee the decision on whether to take proceedings on its behalf and agree to revision of the protocol.
He advised that it agree to recruit a lawyer so that prosecutions in a Magistrates' Court could be conducted by the GOC's own in-house advocate. Howell also recommended the removal of the ban on bringing prosecutions over allegations of unlawful sale under section 27 of the act. The GOC had stopped prosecutions of offences involving the unlawful sale of contact lenses on the internet under section 27 owing to a potentially adverse European Court ruling.
However, according to the GOC, the case of the legality of the sale of contact lenses over the internet in Hungary (News 10.12.10) was concluded without a decision that such prosecutions would be illegal.
According to chairman Anna Bradley, the Council received all of Howell's recommendations with 'resounding support to take this to the next stage'.