New South Wales Consolidated Acts

HEALTH PRACTITIONER REGULATION NATIONAL LAW (NSW) - SECT 122

122 Restriction on prescription of optical appliances

(1) A person must not prescribe an optical appliance unless--

(a) the person is an optometrist or medical practitioner; or

(b) the appliance is spectacles and the person is an orthoptist who--

(i) prescribes the spectacles in the course of carrying out duties at a public health facility; or

(ii) prescribes the spectacles under the supervision of an optometrist or medical practitioner; or

(iii) prescribes the spectacles, on the written referral of an optometrist or medical practitioner, to a person who has had, within the 12 months before the referral, an ocular health examination conducted by an optometrist or medical practitioner; or

(c) the person is a person, or a member of a class of persons, prescribed under a regulation as being authorised to prescribe an optical appliance of that type or to prescribe optical appliances generally.

: Maximum penalty--$60,000 or 3 years imprisonment or both

(2) In this section--

"optical appliance" means--

(a) any appliance designed to correct, remedy or relieve any refractive abnormality or defect of sight, including, for example, spectacle lenses; or

(b) contact lenses, whether or not designed to correct, remedy or relieve any refractive abnormality or defect of sight.

"optometrist" means a person registered in the optometry profession.

"orthoptist" means a person whose name is recorded in the Register of Orthoptists kept by the Australian Orthoptists Registration Body Pty Ltd (ACN 095 11 7 678).