GOC succesfully removes reported illegal spectacle sales on Amazon

The General Optical Council (GOC) has successfully worked with Amazon UK to remove several reports of illegal sales of adjustable focus spectacles online.

The GOC Legal department officer received twelve complaints from the Association of Optometrists (AOP) regarding the sale of adjustable focus spectacles on Amazon’s website. The complaints were in relation to the spectacles being sold without supervision, without a prescription and outside of the powers range as outlined in the Opticians Act.

In the UK, it is required by law that these types of spectacles are sold under supervision, meaning an optician or doctor must be on the premises and be able to intervene at the point of sale if necessary. This applies to both online and high street sales.

The GOC does not investigate the unsupervised sale of adjustable focus spectacles within the powers range of 0 to +4 dioptres.

Following receipt of the complaints, the Legal team investigated and contacted Amazon to remove the reported spectacles from sale with immediate effect. Amazon complied and confirmed that they were removed from sale and marked the items as obsolete. This ensures that no further orders of the reported items can be taken through their catalogue.

The GOC would like to thank the AOP for reporting the illegal sales and Amazon for acting so quickly.

To report any illegal spectacle or contact lens sales, fill out our illegal practice complaint form and email it to the Legal team on lc@optical.org.

Read The Opticians Act..