                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

PRACTICING IN A COMMERCIAL OR MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENT (§ 54.1-3205)

A. It shall be unlawful for any optometrist to practice his profession as a
lessee of or in a commercial or mercantile establishment, or to advertise,
either in person or through any commercial or mercantile establishment, that he
is a licensed practitioner and is practicing or will practice optometry as a
lessee of or in the commercial or mercantile establishment.

B. No licensed optometrist shall practice optometry as an employee, directly or
indirectly, of a commercial or mercantile establishment, unless such commercial
or mercantile establishment was employing a full-time licensed optometrist in
its established place of business on June 21, 1938.

C. For the purposes of this section, the term &#8220;commercial or mercantile
establishment&#8221; means a business enterprise engaged in the selling of
commodities.

D. For the purposes of this section, an optometrist shall be deemed to be
practicing in a commercial or mercantile establishment if he practices, whether
directly or indirectly, as an officer, employee, lessee or agent of any person
or entity in any location that provides direct access to or from a commercial or
mercantile establishment. Direct access includes any entrance or exit, except an
entrance or exit closed to the public and used solely for emergency egress
pursuant to applicable state and local building and fire safety codes, that
prohibits a person from exiting the building or structure occupied by such
practice or establishment (i) onto an exterior sidewalk or public way or (ii)
into a common area that is not under the control of either the optometry
practice or the commercial or mercantile establishment, such as into the common
areas of an enclosed shopping mall. For the purposes of this section, neither an
optometric practice nor an ophthalmologic practice which sells eyeglasses or
contact lenses ancillary to its practice shall be deemed a commercial or
mercantile establishment. Further, any entity that is engaged in the sale of
eyeglasses or contact lenses, the majority of the beneficial ownership of which
is owned by an ophthalmologic practice and/or one or more ophthalmologists,
shall not be deemed a commercial or mercantile establishment.

E. This section shall not be construed to prohibit the rendering of professional
services to the officers and employees of any person, firm or corporation by an
optometrist, whether or not the compensation for such service is paid by the
officers and employees, or by the employer, or jointly by all or any of them.

HISTORY: Code 1950, §§ 54-388, 54-397.1; 1968, c. 505; 1976, c. 758; 1977, c.
161; 1979, c. 39; 1988, c. 765; 2005, cc. 711, 720.