Internet giant eBay UK has entered 10 pleas of not guilty in response to charges that it aided and abetted the illegal sale of contact lenses on its website.
The General Optical Council has challenged the world's largest online auctioneer, claiming that unsupervised sales are putting the ocular health of members of the public at risk (News, September 30).
A decision at a pre-trial hearing at the City of London Magistrates' Court, which took place on Monday (October 10) scheduled a three-day hearing to begin on March 6, 2006.
Lawyer for eBay, Mark Milliken-Smith, told Monday's hearing that the internet company pleaded not guilty to all charges.
eBay could be fined up to 32,500 for allowing its site to be used to sell contact lenses without the supervision of a registered medical practitioner or registered optician.
The online sales on ebay.co.uk took place between March 21 and July 24. One example charge related to the supply by eBay member 'Shaunnicki' of 90 1-Day Acuvue lenses to another member, 'Scoffs'.
Mark Leale, for the General Optical Council, told OPTICIAN that all 10 charges were for the illegal supply of prescription contact lenses and that none related to the supply of plano cosmetic contact lenses.
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