Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Extension

Issuing agencies

Abstract

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 ("PRA"), the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC" or "Commission") is seeking public comment on its proposal to extend for an additional three years the Office of Management and Budget clearance for information collection requirements in its Contact Lens Rule (or Rule). That clearance expires on January 31, 2027.

Full Text

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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 197 (Wednesday, October 14, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 197 (Wednesday, October 14, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65209-65213]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-20970]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request; Extension

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 
(``PRA''), the Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'' or ``Commission'') is 
seeking public comment on its proposal to extend for an additional 
three years the Office of Management and Budget clearance for 
information collection requirements in its Contact Lens Rule (or Rule). 
That clearance expires on January 31, 2027.

DATES: Comments must be filed by December 14, 2026.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment online or on paper, by 
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``Contact Lens Rule, PRA 
Comment, P145403'' on your comment, and file your comment online at 
<a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> by following the instructions on the web-
based form. If you prefer to file your comment on paper, mail your 
comment to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of 
the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Mail Stop H-144 (Annex E), 
Washington, DC 20580.

[[Page 65210]]


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul Spelman, Attorney, Division of 
Advertising Practices, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade 
Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20580, at (202) 
326-2487; <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#67171417020b0a06092701130449000811"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="7b0b080b1e17161a153b1d0f18551c140d">[email&#160;protected]</span></a>.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: Contact Lens Rule (Rule), 16 CFR part 315.
    OMB Control Number: 3084-0127.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    Likely Respondents: Contact lens prescribers and contact lens 
sellers.
    Estimated Annual Labor Hours Burden: 3,216,888 hours (derived from 
2,070,288 contact lens prescriber hours + 1,146,600 contact lens seller 
hours).
    <bullet> Contact Lens Prescribers: 750,000 hours (45 million 
contact lens wearers x 1 minute per prescription release/60 minutes) + 
187,500 hours (33,750,000 contact lens wearers x 20 seconds per 
confirmation of prescription release/3600 seconds) + 62,500 hours 
(11,250,000 contact lens wearers x 20 seconds per affirmative consent 
to electronic prescription delivery/3600 seconds) + 320,288 hours 
(3,843,450 verification requests x 5 minutes per response/60 minutes) + 
750,000 hours recordkeeping = 2,070,288 hours.
    <bullet> Contact Lens Sellers: 1,146,600 (derived from 1,067,625 
hours (12,811,500 orders x 5 minutes per verification/60 minutes) + 
78,975 burden hours (4,738,500 orders x 1 minute recordkeeping/60 
minutes) = 1,146,600) hours.
    Estimated Total Labor Cost Burden: Approximately $133,334,992 
(derived from $61,908,147 ($68.05 x 909,745 optometrist hours) + 
$23,514,733 ($146.47 x 160,543 ophthalmologist hours) + $47,912,112 
($22.32 x 2,146,600 prescriber and seller office clerk hours)).
    Estimated Total Non-Labor Cost Burden: $640,575 (derived from 
12,811,500 orders x $.05 per automated message recording).
    Estimated Total Annual Cost Burden: $133,975,567 (derived from 
$133,334,992 labor cost + $640,575 non-labor cost).
    The Contact Lens Rule was promulgated by the FTC pursuant to the 
Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act (``FCLCA''), Public Law 108-164 
(Dec. 6, 2003), which was enacted to enable consumers to purchase 
contact lenses from the seller of their choice. The Rule became 
effective on August 2, 2004, and was most recently amended in 2020.\1\ 
As mandated by the FCLCA, the Rule requires the release and 
verification of contact lens prescriptions which are generally valid 
for one year and contains recordkeeping requirements applying to both 
prescribers and sellers of contact lenses.
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    \1\ Final Rule, 85 FR 50668 (Aug. 17, 2020).
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    Specifically, the Rule requires that prescribers provide a copy of 
the prescription to the consumer upon the completion of a contact lens 
fitting, even if the patient does not request it, and verify or provide 
prescriptions to authorized third parties. The Rule also mandates that 
a contact lens seller may sell contact lenses only in accordance with a 
prescription that the seller either: (a) has received from the patient 
or prescriber; or (b) has verified through direct communication with 
the prescriber. Additional provisions in the Rule that constitute 
collections of information as defined by 5 CFR 1320.3(c) require that 
sellers who use calls containing automated verification messages record 
the entire call and preserve such recordings for at least three years. 
In addition, the Rule requires that prescribers: (a) obtain from 
patients, and maintain for a period of not less than three years, a 
signed confirmation of prescription release on a separate stand-alone 
document; or (b) obtain from patients, and maintain for a period of not 
less than three years, a patient's signature on a confirmation of 
prescription release included on a copy of a patient's prescription; or 
(c) obtain from patients, and maintain for a period of not less than 
three years, a patient's signature on a confirmation of prescription 
release included on a copy of a patient's contact lens fitting sales 
receipt; or (d) provide each patient with a copy of the prescription 
via online portal, electronic mail, or text message, and for three 
years retain evidence that such prescription was sent, received, or, if 
provided via an online-patient portal, made accessible, downloadable, 
and printable by the patient. For prescribers who choose to offer an 
electronic method of prescription delivery, the Rule requires that such 
prescribers maintain records or evidence of affirmative consent by 
patients to such digital delivery for three years. The Rule also 
requires prescribers to document, in their records, the medical reasons 
for setting a contact lens prescription expiration date of less than 
one year. Additionally, contact lens sellers are required to maintain 
records for three years of all direct communications involved in 
obtaining verification of a contact lens prescription, as well as 
prescriptions, or copies thereof, which they receive directly from 
customers or prescribers.
    The information retained under the Rule's recordkeeping 
requirements is used by the Commission to substantiate compliance with 
the Rule and may also provide a basis for the Commission to bring an 
enforcement action. Without the required records, it would be difficult 
either to ensure that entities are complying with the Rule's 
requirements or to bring enforcement actions based on violations of the 
Rule.
    As required by section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 
3506(c)(2)(A), the FTC is providing this opportunity for public comment 
before requesting that OMB extend the existing clearance for the 
information collection requirements contained in the Rule.

Burden Statement

    Estimated annual hours burden: 3,216,888 hours.
    This figure is derived by adding 2,070,288 disclosure, 
verification, and recordkeeping-hours for contact lens prescribers to 
1,146,600 verification and recordkeeping hours for contact lens 
sellers. This estimate is an increase from the 3,104,050 hours annual 
burden hours submitted to OMB in 2023.

1. Prescribers and Their Office Staff

    The Rule requires prescribers to collect information and make 
disclosures in three ways. Upon completing a contact lens fitting, the 
Rule requires that prescribers (1) provide a copy of the contact lens 
prescription to the patient,\2\ (2) collect a patient's signature on 
either a Confirmation of Prescription Release or a consent-to-
electronic-prescription-release and preserve such record, and (3) as 
directed by any person designated to act on behalf of the patient, 
provide or verify the contact lens prescription. Prescribers can verify 
a prescription either by responding affirmatively to a request for 
verification, or by not responding at all, in which case the 
prescription will be ``passively verified'' after eight business hours. 
Prescribers are also required to correct an incorrect prescription 
submitted by a seller and notify a seller if the prescription submitted 
for verification is expired or otherwise invalid. Staff believe that 
the burden of complying with these requirements is relatively low.
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    \2\ The 2020 amendments to the Contact Lens Rule altered the 
definition of ``provide to the patient a copy'' of the contact lens 
prescription to include electronic delivery of the prescription, 
such as via email, text, or by uploading it to a patient portal. In 
order to avail themselves of this option, prescribers must obtain 
and maintain evidence of the patients' affirmative consent to 
electronic delivery for three years.
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    The number of contact lens wearers in the United States is 
estimated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to be 
approximately 45

[[Page 65211]]

million.\3\ Therefore, assuming an annual contact lens exam for each 
contact lens wearer, approximately 45 million people would receive a 
copy of their prescription each year under the Rule and be required to 
either sign a Confirmation of Prescription Release or consent to 
electronic delivery of their prescription.\4\
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    \3\ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, About Contact 
Lenses, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/contact-lenses/about/index.html">https://www.cdc.gov/contact-lenses/about/index.html</a>.
    \4\ In the past, some commentators have suggested that typical 
contact lens wearers obtain annual exams every 18 months or so, not 
every year. However, because prescriptions under the Rule are valid 
for a minimum of one year, we continue to estimate that patients 
seek exams every 12 months. Staff believes a calculation that 
assumes adherence to the Rule will provide the best estimate of the 
Rule's contemplated burden, even if, in practical terms, it 
overestimates the burden.
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    At an estimated one minute per prescription, the annual time spent 
by prescribers complying with the requirement to release prescriptions 
to patients would be approximately 750,000 hours. [(45 million x 1 
minute)/60 minutes = 750,000 hours]. Since the Rule requires that 
prescriptions be released automatically at completion of a fitting, the 
Commission--for purposes of calculating the PRA burden--continues to 
assume that prescription releases to patients are handled by the 
prescriber rather than the prescriber's office staff.\5\ In all 
likelihood, this estimate overstates the actual burden because it 
includes the time spent by prescribers who already release 
prescriptions to patients in the ordinary course of business. 
Furthermore, this estimate allocates the same time for both paper and 
electronic delivery of prescriptions, even though the latter likely 
takes less time for the prescriber.
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    \5\ This assumption may be incorrect, particularly in instances 
where a contact lens fitting is not completed during the 
prescriber's examination itself, but rather after the patient tests 
out the lenses for a few days. Nonetheless, the Commission does not 
have empirical data on what percentage of prescriptions are released 
by prescribers or by prescribers' staff and thus will calculate the 
PRA with the assumption that they are all released by the 
prescriber.
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    The time required to collect a signature from a patient confirming 
release of a prescription is estimated at twenty seconds.\6\ It is 
estimated that 25% of patients would opt for electronic delivery of 
their prescriptions and thus would not need to sign a Confirmation of 
Prescription Release.\7\ Based on our knowledge of the industry and how 
the medical field operates, the Commission believes most signed patient 
confirmations are obtained by prescribers' office staff rather than by 
the prescribers themselves. The time spent by prescribers' staff 
complying with the requirement to obtain signed confirmations from the 
other 75% of patients is approximately 187,500 hours annually [(75% x 
45 million prescriptions yearly x 20 seconds) / 3600 seconds = 187,500 
hours].
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    \6\ FTC Notice, Proposed Collection, 88 FR 88076, 88079-80 (Dec. 
20, 2023). When the signed confirmation requirement was originally 
added to the Rule in 2020, the time estimated to collect a signature 
was calculated as taking 10 seconds. In 2023, this time allotment 
was increased to 20 seconds after staff received additional input 
from practitioners. The Office of Management and Budget subsequently 
approved the FTC's 2023 extension request for Contact Lens 
Clearance. Notice of Office and Management and Budget Action, OMB 
Control No. 3084-0127.
    \7\ Id.
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    As noted above, it is estimated that approximately 25% of patients 
would opt for electronic delivery of their prescriptions. In order to 
opt for electronic delivery, patients are required to sign an 
affirmative consent to receive their prescription via email, text, or 
patient portal. The time required to collect an affirmative consent 
signature is estimated at twenty seconds,\8\ and the annual time spent 
complying with the requirement to obtain such signatures is 
approximately 62,500 hours [(25% x 45 million prescriptions yearly x 20 
seconds) / 3600 seconds = 62,500 hours]. Based on our knowledge of the 
industry and how the medical field operates, the Commission believes 
most signed patient consents are obtained by prescribers' office staff 
rather than by the prescribers themselves.
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    \8\ Id.
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    As stated above, prescribers may also be required to provide or 
verify contact lens prescriptions to sellers. According to survey data, 
approximately 39% of contact lens purchases are from a source other 
than the prescriber.\9\ Assuming that each of the 45 million contact 
lens wearers in the U.S. makes one purchase per year, this means that 
approximately 17,550,000 contact lens purchases (45 million x 39% = 
17,550,000) are made from sellers other than the prescriber.
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    \9\ Jason J. Nichols & Deborah Fisher, ``2025 Annual Report,'' 
Contact Lens Spectrum, Dec, 31, 2025, <a href="https://digital.clspectrum.com/publication/frame.php?i=859052&p=&pn=&ver=html5&view=articleBrowser&article_id=5093364">https://digital.clspectrum.com/publication/frame.php?i=859052&p=&pn=&ver=html5&view=articleBrowser&article_id=5093364</a>. The estimated percentage of purchases from sellers other than 
the prescriber fluctuates, according to surveys of prescribers. In 
2024, for instance, that number was estimated at 41%, in 2022 it was 
50%, and in 2017 it was 36%. Id.; Jason J. Nichols & Deborah Fisher, 
``Contact Lenses 2023,'' Contact Lens Spectrum, Jan. 1, 2024, 
<a href="https://www.clspectrum.com/issues/2024/januaryfebruary/contact-lenses-2023/">https://www.clspectrum.com/issues/2024/januaryfebruary/contact-lenses-2023/</a>; Jason J. Nichols & Deborah Fisher, ``2018 Annual 
Report,'' Contact Lens Spectrum, Jan. 1, 2019, <a href="https://digital.clspectrum.com/publication/frame.php?i=552776&p=&pn=&ver=html5&view=articleBrowser&article_id=3269179">https://digital.clspectrum.com/publication/frame.php?i=552776&p=&pn=&ver=html5&view=articleBrowser&article_id=3269179</a>.
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    Based on prior discussions with industry, approximately 73% of 
sales by non-prescriber sellers require verification, and prescribers 
affirmatively respond (by notifying the seller that the prescription is 
invalid or incorrect) to approximately 15% of those verification 
requests. Using a response rate of 15%, the FTC therefore estimates 
that prescribers' offices respond to approximately 1,921,725 
verification requests annually [(17,550,000 purchases x 73%) x 15% = 
1,921,725 responses]. Additionally, some prescribers may voluntarily 
respond to verification requests and confirm prescriptions (as opposed 
to simply letting the prescription passively verify). Because 
correcting or declining incorrect prescriptions is mandated by the Rule 
and occurs in response to approximately 15% of requests, staff assumes 
that prescribers voluntarily confirm prescriptions less often and 
confirm at most an additional 15% of prescriptions (and, in all 
likelihood, significantly less). Using a combined response rate of 30%, 
the FTC estimates that prescribers' offices respond to approximately 
3,843,450 requests annually.
    According to prior industry comments,\10\ responding to 
verification requests requires approximately five minutes per request. 
Using that data, we estimate that these responses require an additional 
320,288 hours annually [(3,843,450 x 5 minutes) / 60 minutes = 320,288 
hours]. Based on investigations and anecdotal comments, FTC staff is 
aware that many verification requests are handled by office staff 
rather than by the prescribers themselves. FTC staff, however, does not 
possess reliable information as to what percentage of verification 
requests are performed by prescribers or their staff, and thus will 
allocate all such hours to prescribers, even though this may result in 
an estimated labor cost that is higher than in actuality.
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    \10\ Notice and Request for Comment, 81 FR 62501 (Sept. 9, 
2016).
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    Lastly, the Rule and FCLCA also impose recordkeeping requirements 
on prescribers' offices. First, they must maintain signed 
confirmations, or signed consent to electronic prescription delivery, 
and proof that such prescriptions were delivered via email, text, or 
patient portal for a period of three years. For purposes of PRA 
analysis, the Commission has used the assumption that all prescriber 
offices require a full minute to store and maintain each confirmation 
record and a full minute to store and maintain each consent to 
electronic prescription delivery and proof of electronic

[[Page 65212]]

prescription delivery.\11\ The Commission thus allots an additional 
750,000 annual hours for prescribers' offices to store and maintain 
records of patient confirmations and consents. The Commission believes 
these labor hours are most likely performed by prescribers' office 
staff.
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    \11\ Final Rule, 85 FR 50668, 50709 (August 17, 2020).
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    The Rule also requires prescribers to document the specific medical 
reasons for setting a contact lens prescription expiration date shorter 
than the one-year minimum established by the FCLCA. This burden is 
likely to be nil because the requirement applies only in cases when the 
prescriber invokes the medical judgment exception, which is expected to 
occur infrequently, and prescribers are likely to record this 
information in the ordinary course of business as part of their 
patients' medical records. As mentioned previously, the OMB regulation 
that implements the PRA defines ``burden'' to exclude any effort that 
would be expended regardless of a regulatory requirement.
    Combining all hours spent annually disclosing prescriptions to 
consumers, obtaining confirmations of prescription release from 
consumers, obtaining affirmative consent to electronic prescription 
delivery from consumers, responding to verification requests, and 
maintaining records as required by the Rule, we estimate a total of 
2,070,288 hours for all contact lens prescribers to comply with the 
Rule [750,000 prescription-release hours + 187,500 confirmation-
collection hours + 62,500 electronic-delivery-consent hours + 320,288 
verification-response hours + 750,000 recordkeeping hours = 2,070,288 
hours]. Of this total, we estimate 1,070,288 are labor hours performed 
by prescribers and 1,000,000 are labor hours performed by prescribers' 
clerical office staff.

2. Sellers

    As noted above, a seller may sell contact lenses only in accordance 
with a valid prescription that the seller has (a) received from the 
patient or prescriber or (b) verified through direct communication with 
the prescriber. The FCLCA also requires sellers to retain prescriptions 
and records of communications with prescribers relating to prescription 
verification for three years.
    As stated previously, there are approximately 17,550,000 sales by 
non-prescriber sellers annually and approximately 73% of such sales 
require verification. Therefore, sellers verify approximately 
12,811,500 orders annually and retain two records for such sales: the 
verification request and any response from the prescriber. Staff 
estimates that sellers' verification and recordkeeping for those orders 
will entail a maximum of five minutes per sale. At an estimated five 
minutes per sale to each of the approximately 12,811,500 orders, 
contact lens sellers will spend a total of 1,067,625 burden hours 
complying with this portion of the requirement [(12,811,500 x 5 
minutes) / 60 minutes = 1,067,625 hours].
    Approximately 27% of sales to non-prescriber sellers do not require 
verification and thus require only that the seller retain the 
prescription provided. Staff estimates that this recordkeeping burden 
requires at most one minute per order (in truth, in many cases this 
retention is electronic and automatic and will not require any time) 
for 4,738,500 orders [17,550,000 sales x 27%], resulting in 78,975 
recordkeeping burden hours [(4,738,500 orders x 1 minute) / 60 minutes 
= 78,975 hours].
    Combining burden hours for all orders [1,067,625 hours + 78,975 
hours], staff estimates a total of 1,146,600 hours for contact lens 
sellers. It is likely that this estimate overstates the actual burden 
because it includes the time spent by sellers who already keep records 
pertaining to contact lens sales in the ordinary course of business, 
and those whose records are generated and preserved automatically when 
a customer orders online, which staff believes is the case for many 
online sellers.
    Estimated total labor cost burden: Approximately $133,334,992.
    This figure is derived from applying hourly wage figures for 
optometrists, ophthalmologists, and office clerical staff to the burden 
hours described above. This estimate is higher than the $117,606,598 
labor cost estimate submitted to OMB in 2023 due to wage increases for 
optometrists, ophthalmologists, and office staff, and an increase in 
the percentage estimate of contact lens sales made by sellers other 
than the prescriber.
    According to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), salaried 
optometrists earn an average wage of $68.05 per hour, 
ophthalmologists--which are listed by BLS under ``surgeons''--earn an 
average wage of $146.47 per hour, and general office clerks earn an 
average wage of $22.32 per hour.\12\ Based on our knowledge of the 
industry and the number of optometrists and ophthalmologists in the 
United States, we assume that of the 1,070,288 total prescriber labor 
hours relating to the Rule's prescription release requirement (750,000 
hours) and response to verification requests (320,288 hours), 
optometrists are performing 85% of such hours and ophthalmologists are 
performing the remaining 15% of prescriber hours. We credit general 
office clerks for performing the remaining hours, both for prescribers' 
offices (1,000,000 hours) and for non-prescriber sellers (1,146,600 
hours). Based on these assumptions and estimates above, the estimated 
total labor cost attributable to the Rule is approximately $133,334,992 
[($68.05 x 909,745 optometrist hours = $61,908,147) + ($146.47 x 
160,543 ophthalmologist hours = $23,514,733) + ($22.32 x 1,000,000 
prescribers' office clerk hours = $22,320,000) + ($22.32 x 1,146,600 
sellers' office clerk hours = $25,592,112) = $133,334,992].
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    \12\ Economic News Release, Bureau of Labor Statistics, United 
States Department of Labor, Occupational Employment and Wage 
Statistics survey by occupation--May 2025, <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm">https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm</a>. Median salaries for prescribers and 
clerks are slightly lower than average salaries and, consequently, 
would result in a lower overall burden imposed by the Rule. It is 
possible that medians are more representative since they do not 
include salary outliers that can distort the average. Salaries can 
also vary by region. However, since Contact Lens Rule PRA 
submissions have historically used national salary averages to 
estimate the burden, the FTC will continue to do so for this 
submission.
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    Estimated annual non-labor cost burden: $640,575.
    Staff believes that the Rule's disclosure and recordkeeping 
requirements described above impose negligible capital or other non-
labor costs, as the affected entities are likely to have the necessary 
supplies and/or equipment already (e.g., prescription pads, patients' 
medical charts, facsimile machines and paper, telephones, and 
recordkeeping facilities such as filing cabinets or other storage) to 
perform those requirements. The 2020 Rule amendments, however, modified 
the Rule to require that sellers who use automated verification 
messages record the calls and preserve the recordings for three years. 
The Commission does not believe that requiring sellers who use 
automated messages for verification to record the calls and preserve 
them will create a substantial burden. The requirement will not require 
additional labor time, since the calls will be for the same duration as 
they were previously, but may require capital and other non-labor costs 
to record the calls and store them electronically. Based on comments 
supplied during the Rule modification process, the Commission estimates 
the

[[Page 65213]]

cost to record each verification call at five cents apiece.\13\
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    \13\ 85 FR 50711. It is possible this would be a one-time 
expense for sellers to invest in recording equipment, as opposed to 
an annual outlay. But in the absence of information as to how 
sellers manage such recordings, the Commission will assume, for the 
purpose of this PRA analysis, that recording expense is a recurring 
annual cost burden. It is also possible that this cost has declined 
with advances in recording technology, but the Commission does not 
have updated information on this expense and so will continue to 
estimate five cents per call.
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    Based on survey data, approximately 39% of contact lens purchases 
are from a source other than the prescriber. Assuming that each of the 
45 million contact lens wearers in the U.S. makes on purchase per year, 
this would mean that approximately 17,550,000 contact lens purchases 
are made annually from sellers other than the prescribers. And since 
approximately 73% of sales by non-prescriber sellers require 
verification, this means that approximately 12,811,500 contact lens 
purchases would require verification calls, faxes, or emails. The 
Commission does not possess information as to the percentage of 
verifications completed by telephone versus fax or email, and thus for 
purposes of this analysis will assume that all verifications are 
performed via phone and deliver automated messages that are subject to 
the call-recording requirement. Based on the aforementioned 
assumptions, the Commission estimates that the requirement to record 
automated telephone verification messages will cost sellers, in 
aggregate, $640,575 (12,811,500 x $.05).
    Combining the annual labor cost burden with the non-labor cost 
burden, the total cost burden of the Rule is estimated at $133,975,567 
($133,334,992 + $640,575 = $133,975,567). This is higher than the 
$118,197,898 cost submitted to OMB in 2023 due to rising wage rates and 
an increase in the estimated percentage of sales to non-prescriber 
sellers.
    To put the total cost in perspective, a recent survey estimated 
that the U.S. contact lens market revenue is approximately $4.4 billion 
as of 2025, and growing at a healthy pace.\14\ Therefore, the total 
cost burden estimate of $133,975,567, imposed by the Rule, while not 
insubstantial, represents just approximately 3% of the overall retail 
revenue generated.
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    \14\ See USA Contact Lens Market, <a href="https://www.kenresearch.com/industry-reports/usa-contact-lenses-market">https://www.kenresearch.com/industry-reports/usa-contact-lenses-market</a>. Total market estimates 
vary by a wide margin. Some estimates put the U.S. contact lens 
market much higher. See also Contact Lenses Market Report 2026-2035, 
<a href="https://www.researchnester.com/reports/contact-lens-market/223">https://www.researchnester.com/reports/contact-lens-market/223</a>, 
estimating the market as $15.6 billion. However, in an effort to 
provide the most conservative numbers, we use the lower market 
estimate, resulting in a higher total cost burden percentage. If we 
were to use the $15.6 billion estimate, the percent of cost burden 
would be 0.9% of overall retail revenue.
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Request for Comment

    Pursuant to Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA, the FTC invites 
comments on: (1) whether the disclosure and recordkeeping requirements 
are necessary, including whether the information will be practically 
useful; (2) the accuracy of our burden estimates, including whether the 
methodology and assumptions used are valid; (3) ways to enhance the 
quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and 
(4) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information.
    For the FTC to consider a comment, we must receive it on or before 
December 14, 2026. Your comment, including your name and your state, 
will be placed on the public record of this proceeding, including the 
<a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> website.
    You can file a comment online or on paper. Due to heightened 
security screening, postal mail addressed to the Commission will be 
subject to delay. We encourage you to submit your comments online 
through the <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> website.
    If you file your comment on paper, write ``Contact Lens Rule, PRA 
Comment, P145403'' on your comment and on the envelope, and mail it to 
the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the 
Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Mail Stop H-144 (Annex E), 
Washington, DC 20580.
    Because your comment will become publicly available at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>, you are solely responsible for making sure that 
your comment does not include any sensitive or confidential 
information. In particular, your comment should not include any 
sensitive personal information, such as your or anyone else's Social 
Security number; date of birth; driver's license number or other state 
identification number, or foreign country equivalent; passport number; 
financial account number; or credit or debit card number. You are also 
solely responsible for making sure that your comment does not include 
any sensitive health information, such as medical records or other 
individually identifiable health information. In addition, your comment 
should not include any ``trade secret or any commercial or financial 
information which . . . is privileged or confidential''--as provided by 
Section 6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 
16 CFR 4.10(a)(2)--including, in particular, competitively sensitive 
information, such as costs, sales statistics, inventories, formulas, 
patterns, devices, manufacturing processes, or customer names.
    Comments containing material for which confidential treatment is 
requested must (1) be filed in paper form, (2) be clearly labeled 
``Confidential,'' and (3) comply with FTC Rule 4.9(c). In particular, 
the written request for confidential treatment that accompanies the 
comment must include the factual and legal basis for the request and 
must identify the specific portions of the comment to be withheld from 
the public record. See FTC Rule 4.9(c). Your comment will be kept 
confidential only if the General Counsel grants your request in 
accordance with the law and the public interest. Once your comment has 
been posted publicly at <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>, we cannot redact or remove 
your comment unless you submit a confidentiality request that meets the 
requirements for such treatment under FTC Rule 4.9(c), and the General 
Counsel grants that request.
    The FTC Act and other laws that the Commission administers permit 
the collection of public comments to consider and use in this 
proceeding as appropriate. The Commission will consider all timely and 
responsive public comments that it receives on or before December 14, 
2026. For information on the Commission's privacy policy, including 
routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, see <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/site-information/privacy-policy">https://www.ftc.gov/site-information/privacy-policy</a>.

Josephine Liu,
Assistant General Counsel for Legal Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2026-20970 Filed 10-13-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P


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