Opticians (Regulation)
Current Authorised Pages
Pages Authorised
(inclusive) by L.R.O.
1–2 ..
3–14 ..
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L.R.O.
Act
36 of 1960
Amended by
5 of 1968
27 of 1987
LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
CHAPTER 29:51
OPTICIANS (REGISTRATION) ACT
UNOFFICIAL VERSION
UPDATED TO DECEMBER 31ST 2014
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Index of Subsidiary Legislation
Page
Opticians (Registration and Licence Fees) Regulations (LN 69/1993) … 15
2 Chap. 29:51 Opticians (Registration)
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Opticians (Registration) Chap. 29:51 3
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CHAPTER 29:51
OPTICIANS (REGISTRATION) ACT
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
SECTION
1. Short title.
2. Interpretation.
3. Establishment of Opticians Registration Council.
4. Incorporation and Seal of Council.
5. Opticians Register.
6. Qualification for registration.
7. Existing practitioners.
8. Nature of services.
8A. Restrictions on the fitting of contact lenses.
9. Application for registration.
10. Procedure for registration.
11. Fees.
12. Annual licence fee.
13. Publication in the Gazette.
14. Unauthorised practice or assumption of title.
15. Possession of sight-testing apparatus.
16. Recovery of charges for services.
17. Discipline.
18. Appeals to Supreme Court.
19. Maintenance of Register.
20. False entry on Register.
21. Offences.
22. Savings and exemptions.
23. Penalties.
24. Laying of complaints, etc., on Council.
Penalties payable to Council.
25. Regulations.
26. Collection and disposal of fees.
SCHEDULE.
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36 of 1960.
Commencement.
40/1961.
Short title.
Interpretation.
[27 of 1987].
Ch. 30:01.
Ch. 29:50.
CHAPTER 29:51
OPTICIANS (REGISTRATION) ACT
An Act to make provision for the Registration of Opticians,
to regulate the practice of sight testing, and for purposes
incidental thereto.
[15TH APRIL 1961]
1. This Act may be cited as the Opticians (Registration) Act.
2. In this Act—
“Council” means the Opticians Registration Council constituted
under this Act;
“diploma” means any diploma, degree, fellowship, membership,
licence, certificate or other status or form of recognition
granted by a University, College or duly licensed body
conferring authority to practise sight testing or to compound
and dispense lenses in the country or place where granted;
“dispensing optician” means a person registered and licensed as
such under this Act;
“drug” has the meaning assigned to it in the Food and Drugs Act;
“lens” means a lens ground for use in eye glasses;
“medical practitioner” means a medical practitioner registered
as a member of the Medical Board under the Medical
Board Act;
“ophthalmic prescription” means the order or direction of a
medical practitioner or of an optometrist specifying that
eye glasses, lenses or prisms be compounded and dispensed
as prescribed therein for the person named in such order
or direction;
“optometrist” means a person registered and licensed as such
under this Act;
“Register” means the register of optometrists and dispensing
opticians kept pursuant to this Act;
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“secretary” means such person as may from time to time be
appointed by the Council to be secretary;
“sight testing” means the employment of any means other than
medicine or surgery for the measurement of the powers
of vision.
3. (1) There shall be established a Council to be known as
the Opticians Registration Council to be appointed by the
Minister and consisting of—
(a) two dispensing opticians nominated by the
Dispensing Opticians Associations;
(b) two medical practitioners, one an ophthalmologist,
nominated by the Medical Board, and the other,
the Chief Medical Officer or his alternate;
(c) three optometrists nominated by the Trinidad
and Tobago Optometrist Association.
(2) The Chairman shall be the Chief Medical Officer or
his alternate who shall have an original and a casting vote.
(3) Four members shall form a quorum for the
transaction of any business.
4. (1) The Opticians Registration Council is hereby created
a body corporate.
(2) The seal of the Council shall be kept in the custody
of the Chairman or the Secretary and shall be authenticated by the
Chairman or the Secretary and one other member of the Council
authorised by the Council to act in that behalf.
(3) All documents, other than those required by law to
be under seal, made by, and all decisions of, the Council may be
signified under the hand of the Chairman or the Secretary.
5. (1) The Secretary shall keep a register, to be styled the
Opticians Register, containing the names and such other
particulars as the Council shall prescribe of all persons whom the
Council shall direct to be registered under this Act.
Establishment
of Opticians
Registration
Council.
[27 of 1987].
Incorporation
and Seal of
Council.
[5 of 1968].
Opticians
Register.
[27 of 1987].
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Qualification
for registration.
[27 of 1987].
(2) The Register shall be in three parts,
showing separately—
(a) the names of individuals registered
as optometrists;
(b) the names of individuals registered as
dispensing opticians; and
(c) the names of firms or companies registered to
carry on the practice of optometry or
dispensing opticians.
6. (1) Upon furnishing evidence satisfactory to the Council
of good character, any person who holds—
(a) a fellowship diploma of the British Optical
Association or of the Worshipful Company of
Spectacle Makers; or
(b) a diploma which is recognised by the Council as
evidence of satisfactory qualification as an
optometrist,
shall be entitled to be registered under this Act as an optometrist.
(2) Upon furnishing evidence satisfactory to the Council
of good character, any person who holds—
(a) a diploma from the Association of Dispensing
Opticians of the United Kingdom; or
(b) a diploma which is recognised by the Council as
evidence of satisfactory qualification as a
dispensing optician,
shall be entitled to be registered under this Act as a
dispensing optician.
(3) Every firm or company desirous of carrying on the
business of providing ophthalmic or dispensing service is required
to apply to be registered under this Act and any such firm or
company engaging in such business without being so registered is
guilty of an offence.
(4) Where the applicant for registration under this Act is
a firm or company, registration shall be conditional upon the
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applicant having on its staff at least one individual who is himself
registered under this Act as an optometrist or a dispensing optician.
7. (1) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 6(1), all
persons who at the date of the coming into force of this Act were
registered as opticians under the Opticians (Registration)
Ordinance (repealed by this Act) and whose names were on the
register thereby established, shall be entitled to be registered as
optometrists under this Act without making application therefor
and shall be so registered.
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 6(2), any
person who—
(a) is able to furnish evidence satisfactory to the
Council that he had acquired the necessary skill
as a dispensing optician by practical experience
in dispensing ophthalmic prescriptions for a
period of not less than five years prior to the
date of the commencement of this Act; and
(b) has been resident in Trinidad and Tobago for the
two years immediately preceding the date of the
commencement of the Act; and
(c) makes application to the Council within six
months of the date of the commencement of
this Act,
shall upon furnishing evidence satisfactory to the Council of good
character be entitled to be registered as a dispensing optician.
8. (1) An optometrist shall be entitled to practise sight testing
and to prescribe, compound and dispense ophthalmic prescriptions.
(2) A dispensing optician shall be entitled to compound
and dispense ophthalmic prescriptions.
(3) Notwithstanding any rule of law to the contrary
optometrists are entitled to obtain and administer for external use
only, in sight-testing, the diagnostic drugs listed in the Schedule.
(4) A dispensing optician entitled to fit contact lenses is
permitted to use the drug fluorescein in sterile impregnated
paper-strip form.
Existing
practitioners.
Ch. 12 No. 3.
(1950 Ed.).
Nature of
services.
[27 of 1987].
Schedule.
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(5) No person registered under this Act shall be entitled
to use diagnostic drugs unless he is—
(a) an optometrist who qualified not earlier than
1960; or
(b) an optometrist who qualified before 1960 but
who satisfies the Council that he has
successfully completed a course recognised by
the Council in the use of drugs.
(6) The Minister, acting on the advice of the Council, may
by Order, vary the Schedule by adding thereto or deleting therefrom.
8A. No person registered under this Act shall be entitled to fit
contact lenses unless he is—
(a) an optometrist who qualified not earlier
than 1960;
(b) an optometrist who qualified before 1960 but
who satisfies the Council that he is proficient in
the fitting of contact lenses; or
(c) a dispensing optician who satisfies the Council
that he is proficient in the fitting of contact lenses.
9. (1) Subject to section 7 any individual, firm or company
desiring to be registered under this Act shall make application to
the Secretary and submit such evidence of eligibility for
registration as shall be satisfactory to the Council.
(2) The Secretary shall as soon as possible after a
decision has been reached by the Council in respect of any
application for registration, inform the applicant of such decision.
10. The Secretary shall submit each application to the
Council and the Council if satisfied that the applicant is eligible
and fit and proper to be registered under this Act shall direct the
Secretary to register such applicant accordingly on payment of
the registration fee.
11. The fees payable under this Act shall be those prescribed
in the Regulations.
Restrictions on
the fitting of
contact lenses.
[27 of 1987].
Application for
registration.
[27 of 1987].
Procedure for
registration.
[27 of 1987].
Fees.
[27 of 1987].
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Opticians (Registration) Chap. 29:51 9
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Annual
licence fee.
[27 of 1987].
Publication in
the Gazette.
12. (1) The Secretary shall issue to every individual, firm or
company registered under this Act a licence, signed by the
Chairman of the Council and by the Secretary, to practise as an
optometrist or a dispensing optician, as the case may be, and such
licence shall expire on the 31st day of December next after the
issue thereof, unless it is cancelled or suspended earlier by order
of the Council.
(2) Every licensee under this section shall pay to the
Secretary an annual licence fee payable in the month of January
in each year commencing with the year immediately following
his initial registration.
(3) If any licensee fails to pay the annual licence fee for
three months after it becomes due, the registration shall be
deemed to be suspended; but it shall be lawful for the Council to
restore the effectiveness of the registration upon payment of the
licence fee and such further sum by way of fine as to the Council
may seem proper.
13. (1) The Secretary, in the month of February each year,
shall cause to be published in the Gazette a copy of the Register
showing the names of persons who are registered under this Act
as optometrists and as dispensing opticians; and the absence of
the name of any person from the list of names so published shall
be prima facie evidence that such person is not so registered.
(2) The Secretary shall also cause to be published in the
Gazette a notice of each subsequent registration or suspension or
cancellation of registration and of each restoration of registration.
(3) A copy of the Register for the time being published
in the Gazette and of any subsequent notice in accordance with
the provisions of this section shall be prima facie evidence of the
entry recorded with respect to persons described therein.
(4) A certificate signed by the Chairman of the Council
and by the Secretary with regard to whether any particular person
is or is not registered under this Act shall be conclusive with
regard to the status of that person.
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14. (1) Any person who not being an optometrist, either for
or without reward, practises as an optometrist or takes or uses the
name or title of optometrist, either alone or in combination with
any other word or works or any name, title, addition or
description, implying that he is an optometrist or that he is a
person qualified to practise sight testing, is guilty of an offence.
(2) Any person who not being an optometrist or a
dispensing optician either for or without reward, compounds or
dispenses an ophthalmic prescription or takes or uses any name
or title, addition or description implying or calculated to convey
the impression that he is an optometrist or a dispensing optician
is guilty of an offence.
(3) In any prosecution under this Act it shall be sufficient
proof of an offence if it is proved that the accused has done or
committed a single act of unauthorised practice or has committed
on a single occasion any of the acts prohibited under this section.
(4) This section does not apply to medical practitioners.
15. A dispensing optician may lawfully be in possession of
test lenses, lensometer and such other instruments, apparatus or
machinery as may be required for dispensing ophthalmic
prescriptions; but subject as provided herein, in any prosecution
under this Act, the use by any person other than an optometrist of
test lenses, trial frames, ophthalmoscope, retinoscope or any
apparatus that may be used to measure refraction or visual acuity,
or muscular equilibrium, shall be deemed conclusive evidence of
the practice of sight testing.
16. (1) Every optometrist shall be entitled to demand and
recover reasonable charges for sight testing and other services
which by this Act he is authorised to perform including the cost
of merchandise supplied in connection therewith.
(2) Every dispensing optician shall be entitled to demand
and recover reasonable charges for dispensing eye glasses or lenses
or prisms in accordance with an ophthalmic prescription including
the cost of any merchandise supplied in connection therewith.
Unauthorised
practice or
assumption
of title.
Possession of
sight-testing
apparatus.
Recovery of
charges for
services.
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Opticians (Registration) Chap. 29:51 11
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(3) No person unless he is authorised under this or any
other Act to perform the services referred to in subsection (1)
or (2), shall be entitled to claim or to recover any fee or charge
for such services.
17. (1) If any person registered under this Act—
(a) is convicted of an offence which if committed in
Trinidad and Tobago would render such person
liable to conviction on indictment; or
(b) is guilty of any infamous, disgraceful or improper
conduct or negligence in a professional respect,
the Council, after due enquiry, may—
(i) censure or reprimand such person;
(ii) suspend such person for any period not to
exceed two years;
(iii) by resolution declare that such person is
in its opinion unfit to be registered as an
optometrist or dispensing optician as the
case may be, and, if the Minister consents
may give a written order to the Secretary
to cancel the registration of such person
and to strike his name from the Register.
(2) The Secretary shall comply forthwith with any order
of cancellation of registration made under subsection (1) and
shall send a true copy thereof to the person concerned by pre-paid
registered post addressed to him at his last known address.
(3) An optometrist or dispensing optician who has been
suspended or whose name has been struck off the Register in
accordance with subsection (1), shall forthwith cease to practise
and shall not resume practice until the period of suspension has
expired or his name has again been entered in the Register in
accordance with this Act; and any person who contravenes the
provisions of this subsection is guilty of an offence.
(4) It shall be within the power of the Council where it
thinks proper, with the consent of the Minister to order that the
name of any person whose registration has been cancelled be
restored to the Register.
Discipline.
[5 of 1968].
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18. Any person aggrieved by the refusal of the Council to
register his name on the Register or by the erasure of his name
from the Register may, within six weeks after the date on which
notice thereof was given to him by the Secretary, appeal against
the refusal to register or the erasure as the case may be to a Judge
in Chambers and the Judge may give such decision in the matter
as he thinks proper including any directions as to the cost of
the appeal.
19. (1) The Secretary shall on the instructions of the
Council from time to time insert in the Register any alteration
which may come to his knowledge in the name or address of any
person registered.
(2) The Secretary shall on the instruction of the Council
erase from the Register—
(a) the name of every deceased person;
(b) the name of every optometrist or dispensing
optician ordered by the Council to be erased
under the provisions of section 17;
(c) any entry which has been incorrectly or
fraudulently made.
20. Any person who fraudulently makes, or causes or
permits to be made, any false or incorrect entry in the Register or
any copy thereof, is liable on summary conviction to
imprisonment for a period of two years.
21. (1) Any person who—
(a) procures or attempts to procure by or for himself
or any other person registration under this Act
by means of any false, deceptive or fraudulent
act, conduct or statement, written or verbal, or
who aids or abets therein; or
(b) not being an optometrist or a dispensing
optician under this Act, sells eye glasses or
lenses or spectacle frames (other than sun
glasses, sun shades or hand magnifying glasses)
kept in stock in a state ready for use; or
Appeals to
Supreme Court.
Maintenance
of Register.
False entry
on Register.
Offences.
[5 of 1968].
12 Chap. 29:51 Opticians (Registration)
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Opticians (Registration) Chap. 29:51 13
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(c) is registered under this Act and not being a
medical practitioner takes, uses or assumes the
title or degree of Doctor or any words, letters,
abbreviations or designation signifying or likely
to be taken as signifying the word “Doctor”,
is guilty of an offence.
(2) Nothing contained in subsection (1)(b) shall be
deemed to prevent the sale of eye glasses or lenses, in a retail
establishment which is under the direct control and supervision
of a person who is registered as an optometrist under this Act.
22. (1) Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to affect or
interfere with the practice of medicine by medical practitioners.
(2) Nothing in this Act shall so operate as to prohibit any
wholesale dealer from supplying frames, ophthalmic lenses or
spectacles to optometrists or dispensing opticians in the ordinary
course of wholesale business.
23. Any person guilty of an offence under this Act for which
no penalty is specifically provided is liable on summary
conviction to a fine of one thousand five hundred dollars and to
imprisonment for six months.
24. (1) Any information or complaints for any offence
against this Act or any Regulations made thereunder may be made
or laid in the name of the Council by the Secretary or any member
of the Council duly authorised in that behalf by resolution of the
Council; and any member authorised in that behalf by resolution
of the Council may conduct the proceedings in a Summary Court
in all cases in which the Council is a complainant.
(2) All penalties, fines, costs and expenses recovered for
offences against this Act or any regulation made thereunder
shall be received by the Court and paid to the Secretary for the
use of the Council.
25. The Council may, with the approval of the Minister,
make such Regulations as it considers necessary for carrying the
Savings and
exemptions.
Penalties.
Laying of
complaints, etc.,
on Council.
Penalties
payable to
Council.
[5 of 1968].
Regulations.
[5 of 1968].
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Section 8(3).
[27 of 1987]. SCHEDULE
Topical Anaesthetics for facilitating—
(a) the measurement of intracular pressure;
(b) ocular prosthesis—
(i) Amethocaine not over 0.5 per cent;
(ii) Benoxinate (oxybuprocaine hydrochloride) not over
0.4 per cent;
(iii) Proparacaine hydrochloride not over 0.5 per cent.
Diagnostic Staining Dyes—
(a) Rose Bengal 1 per cent solution;
(b) Fluorescein in sterile impregnated paper-strip form.
purposes and provisions of this Act into effect, and without
restricting the generality, may make Regulations for all or any of
the following purposes:
(a) for prescribing a code of ethics to be observed
by persons registered under this Act;
(b) for the good government of the Council and for
the proper conduct of its affairs;
(c) for regulating the time, manner and place
of meeting of the Council and the
proceedings thereof;
(d) for regulating the manner of applying and using
the funds of the Council;
(e) controlling the operations and defining the
functions of manufacturing opticians;
(f) for prescribing anything required or authorised
to be prescribed;
(g) for prescribing in respect of any contravention
or failure to comply a penalty on summary
conviction of a fine of five hundred dollars or
imprisonment for three months.
26. All fees payable under this Act shall be paid to the
Council to be used for carrying the purposes of this Act into effect.
Collection and
disposal of fees.
14 Chap. 29:51 Opticians (Registration)
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Opticians (Registration) Chap. 29:51 15
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69/1993.
[113/2006
13/2013].
Citation.
Registration
fees.
Licence fees.
SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION
OPTICIANS (REGISTRATION AND LICENCE FEES)
REGULATIONS
made under section 25
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Opticians
(Registration and Licence Fees) Regulations.
2. Registration fees are as follows:
(a) an optometrist … … … … $100.00;
(b) a dispensing optician … … $100.00;
(c) a firm or company carrying on
the pract ice of optometry or
dispensing opticians… … … $500.00.
3. Fees for a licence to practise are as follows:
(a) an optometrist … … … … $300.00;
(b) a dispensing optician … … $200.00;
(c) a firm or company carrying on
the pract ice of optometry or
dispensing opticians… … … $1,000.00.
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