In Focus: GOC puts contact lens code on backburner

A proposed voluntary code for online contact lens sellers has stalled after the General Optical Council encountered one too many stumbling blocks.

Following months of consultation on its illegal practice strategy, detailed research and the creation of an extensive draft code, council members met this week to discuss putting the idea on hold for at least another year.

While it had been hoped that a final code of practice would be approved last November, it looks to have been postponed while the regulator concentrates on other projects including an education strategy review.

The regulator this week identified risks in implementing the code, including its requirements being too onerous to secure enough support, and the risk of a legal challenge from online retailers. One such company is Daysoft, which seemed to have successfully contested the ‘effective ban’ on its substitution of contact lens products in the draft GOC code.