Are prescription glasses considered personal protective equipment?

Special optical correction devices constitute personal protective equipment.

In the sense of Government Decision No. 1028/2006 on the minimum safety and health requirements for the use of display screen equipment, special corrective devices constitute personal protective equipment provided by the employer in accordance with the applicable collective labor agreement and/or the internal regulations, when normal corrective devices are not sufficient to protect the employee who regularly uses display screen equipment for a significant part of their normal working time against one or more risks to eyesight, physical discomfort, or mental strain associated with their workstation.

It should be emphasized that Government Decision No. 1028/2006 establishes only a general framework and does not lay down, in a general manner, a concrete obligation for all categories of employers to provide a specific item of personal protective equipment or a special corrective device to any employee who works, more or less regularly, with display screen equipment.

In fact, the employer is first required to carry out an assessment of the workstations in order to evaluate the safety and health conditions provided to workers, particularly with regard to any potential risks to eyesight, physical strain, and mental workload.

Therefore, from a formal standpoint, compliance with a procedure specifically regulated by occupational safety and health legislation is required, which can be summarized as follows:

1. The employer, in the prevention and protection plan that they are required to prepare:

• Shall assess the specific risks associated with the use of display screen equipment

• Shall establish prevention and protection measures (technical, sanitary, organizational, etc.)

2. Based on this prevention and protection plan, the necessary human and material resources will be established: among others, personal protective equipment, a category that includes optical corrective devices.

3. The prevention and protection plan, as well as the resources necessary for its implementation, must be reviewed by the workers and/or their representatives, or by the occupational safety and health committee. Thus, depending on the size of the employer, the employer shall consult:

• the workers or their representatives, if the employer has fewer than 10 employees

• the workers’ representatives with specific responsibilities in occupational safety and health, if the employer has at least 10 employees

• the occupational safety and health committee, if the employer has at least 50 employees

4. The manner, conditions, and, in general, all rights and obligations of the parties regarding the occupational safety and health of employees/workers—beyond the rights and obligations established by law, which are minimal in nature—are regulated through the collective labor agreement (Article 229 of the Labor Code) and/or through the internal regulations (Article 242 letter a) of the Labor Code).

5. The worker must undergo a medical examination (provided by the occupational health physician) as well as an ophthalmological examination in order to determine the necessity of providing special corrective devices.

From a material standpoint, it is necessary to understand the notion of a special optical correction device in order to determine whether prescription glasses fall within this category of protective equipment.

According to paragraph 37 of the Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) of 22 December 2022, Case C-392/21 – TJ vs. the General Inspectorate for Immigration of Romania, when glasses are “worn outside the workplace and are therefore not necessarily linked to the working conditions,” they are considered normal corrective devices. As the judgment states, “such devices do not serve to correct visual difficulties related to the work being performed and may have no specific connection with working at a monitor.”

In contrast, special corrective devices, within the meaning of Article 14 of Government Decision No. 1028/2006, must “necessarily aim to correct or prevent visual difficulties that a normal corrective device cannot correct or prevent” (paragraph 38 of the CJEU Judgment of 22 December 2022).

In conclusion, we must ask ourselves the following questions:

• Do I wear glasses because I have always needed them, and are these glasses sufficient to correct and prevent the risks associated with working at a monitor? → normal corrective device

• Or do I need glasses, or another type of device such as lenses, specifically due to visual difficulties caused by the particular demands of working at a monitor? → special corrective device, which must be provided by the employer in accordance with Article 14 of Government Decision No. 1028/2006.

Only these special corrective devices fall within the category of personal protective equipment and are non-taxable under Article 76(4)(f) of the Fiscal Code.