General Optical Council
Encyclopedia
The General Optical Council (GOC) is an organisation in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 which was set up by the Opticians Act 1958 to maintain a register of optician
Optician
An optician is a person who is trained to fill prescriptions for eye correction in the field of medicine, also known as a dispensing optician or optician, dispensing...

s and to uphold the Act. Its purpose is to regulate the services provided by optician
Optician
An optician is a person who is trained to fill prescriptions for eye correction in the field of medicine, also known as a dispensing optician or optician, dispensing...

s and optometrist
Optometry
Optometry is a health care profession concerned with eyes and related structures, as well as vision, visual systems, and vision information processing in humans. Optometrists, or Doctors of Optometry, are state licensed medical professionals trained to prescribe and fit lenses to improve vision,...

s (ophthalmic opticians). The stated function of the GOC is "to protect the public and promote high standards of professional conduct and education amongst opticians".

Opticians and optometrists must be registered with the GOC in order to continue to practise in the UK. It also maintains a register of companies who carry on business as opticians. The GOC can take action against opticians who are deemed "unfit to practise" and also against people or companies who break the terms of the Opticians Act.

The GOC was in the news at the end of September 2005 after taking action against eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...

UK for "‘aiding and abetting’ sales of contact lenses without the involvement of a qualified optician."

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