A doctor seeking to sell non-prescription "reading glasses" to the public claimed at the High Court yesterday that successive governments have failed since 1995 to implement EU deregulation provisions relating to such glasses.
Dr Andrew Rynne, Prosperous, Co Kildare, and Easy Readers Ltd, a company of which he is a shareholder, claim they they are in the business of selling and distributing "simple magnifying glasses" encased in spectacle frames, known as reading glasses, but are restricted or prevented from doing so. They have taken proceedings against Bord na Radharcmhastoiri (the Opticians' Board); the Minister for Health and Children and the State.
Dr Rynne and the company are seeking a declaration that the defendants have failed to vindicate their constitutional rights and are also suing for damages.
Mr David Hardiman SC, for Dr Rynne and Easy Readers Ltd, told Mr Justice Smyth the action was brought under a new designation of the European Treaties and challenged Section 49 of the Opticians Act 1956 insofar as it restricted or prohibited the sale of ready-made, non-prescription or, more accurately, reading glasses.
It was accepted such glasses were not the subject of any dispute in relation to health issues and represented an off-the-shelf article which could be tested by a purchaser by use of a reading card.
Dr Rynne was a general medical practitioner who set up the company in 1998. He was aware reading glasses had become deregulated in the EU, invested some £40,000 and acquired a supply of reading glasses from a French supplier.
The doctor set about finding retailers and his plan was to attempt to supply chemists. He recognised he might meet some customer resistance and believed the higher status of a chemist would present a better opportunity. He had seen the glasses sold in other countries and they could be found in airports and some supermarkets. He was aware also that the issue of deregulation was in hand.
However, within a few months, he met almost total opposition to his business. While he managed to sell a few glasses, he still had some 5,000 pairs.
According to documents, it appeared that, from 1995 at least, the Opticians Board and the Department of Health were in communication to amend the Opticians Act, particularly in relation to reading glasses.
By 1996 the Department had identified the principal need for amendment of the Act related to reading glasses, on the basis of European harmonisation and deregulation.
In 1999, the EC started an inquiry preparatory to a prosecution of Ireland for failure to deregulate relating to reading glasses but was appeased in the following year by the giving of an impression of a commitment to change the legislation in Ireland.
Mr Hardiman said his client was suing on the bases that the State was prohibited by the European Treaties from maintaining any commercial or special right to an undertaking which was in conflict with the competition rules.
The defendants plead that Dr Rynne and his company are selling "reading glasses" which constitute "spectacles" for the purposes of the 1956 Act. The Opticians Board has denied that its members enjoy a dominant position in trade or that they have abused their position. It is also denied the provisions of the 1956 Act are contrary to EC legislation. The hearing is expected to continue for the next two weeks.