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Glossary of Terms and Organisations

ABDO – the Association of British Dispensing Opticians

ACLM – Association of Contact Lens Manufacturers

AOP – Association of Optometrists

DHSC – the Department of Health and Social Care. DHSC is a ministerial department, supported by 29 agencies and public bodies.

ECOO – the European Council of Optometry and Optics represents the interests of optometrists and opticians across 25 countries. ABDO, the AOP, the College of Optometrists and FODO are all members.

EUDAMED – the European database on which all manufacturers, medical devices and medicines must be registered if they operate or devices are marketed in the European Union.

EUROMCONTACT – the European Association for contact lens manufacturers. The ACLM is the UK member

EUROM1 – the European Association of Manufacturing Opticians – primarily manufacturers of spectacle frames and lenses and sunglasses. The OSA and FODO are both members for the UK.

FODO – the Association of Eye Care Providers

GOC – the General Optical Council regulates optometrists and dispensing opticians and registered optical businesses. It is a statutory body accountable parliament. It is one of 13 health and social care regulators.

GOS – Government Ophthalmic Services. NHS eye examinations in England are managed via the GOS contract.

JOCEU – the Joint Optical Committee for Europe (JOCEU) comprises ABDO, AOP, College of Optometrists, and FODO. It gives these organisations a single voice in debate and in influencing legislation at the European level. The ACLM and OSA attend as observers.

LOCSU – The Local Optical Committee Support Unit, provides support to Local Optical Committees (LOCs) and their Primary Eyecare Companies (PECs) in England.

MDR 2002 – the UK medical device regulations

MDR 2017 – or the EU MDR – the 2017 EU regulation on medical devices.

MHRA – the UK’s medical and healthcare products regulator. The MHRA is an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care.

OFNC – the Optometric Fees Negotiating Committee represents those contracted to deliver primary eye care services under a GOS contract in England. It is made up of the ABDO, the AOP, the British Medical Association and FODO.

Optical Confederation – the five representative bodies within the optical sector in the UK – ABDO, ACLM, AOP, FODO and the OSA.

OSA – Optical Suppliers Association

UDI – is a unique numeric or alphanumeric code for every medical device required by the EU Medical Devices Regulations 2017.

UKCA – the new UK conformity assessment mark, introduced for products on the UK market to replace the CE mark following the UK’s departure from the European Union.