A piece of “housekeeping” legislation that tightens the rules governing optometrists and opticians was passed in the House of Assembly.The Optometrists and Opticians Amendment Act amends a law that has been in place since 2008.It adds an additional function to the Council that governs the profession to protect the public by ensuring high standards of professional competence and conduct.The Council is also tasked with prescribing a code of conduct and exercising disciplinary control over registered optometrists and opticians.The new law means those who apply for registration when their first language is not English will have to satisfy the Council they have sufficient knowledge of English to function as a practitioner in Bermuda.In addition, professionals must now re-register every two years instead of every three years, having completed a required number of hours of professional training.Anyone aggrieved by any decision of the Council now has 28 days to appeal to the Supreme Court, when the time limit used to be seven days.The amendment was approved with little debate, save for “minor concerns” raised by Shadow Health Minister Louise Jackson.She said several optometrists are aggrieved that they now have to re-register more frequently.“All their professional development must be done abroad,” said Mrs Jackson, adding that the amendment will mean more hotel bills for them.However, Mr DeSilva said the re-registration every two years was something industry professionals themselves had asked for after consultation, and they supported the new legislation.