In the April 2009 edition of our medical information flyer ‘Transition to EC Directive 2007/47/EC’, we informed you that we assumed, in view of the status of discussions at that time, that new declarations of conformity would have to be issued.
In our newsletter of 2 July 2009 we revised this statement and explained that not all declarations of conformity might have to be re-issued in general.
Subsequent discussions with several authorities and Notified Bodies revealed that the issue of new declarations of conformity has not yet been discussed clearly and uniformly across all EU Member States and that therefore the statements of the individual Member States on this subject also differ. While some EU Member States consider the issue of new declarations of conformity as unavoidable in general, other EU Member States consider internal evidence of compliance to be sufficient.However, not only the European authorities, but other stakeholders too are interested in a declaration of conformity; they include hospital purchasing departments, registered practitioners and non-EU authorities.
Given this, we expect further discussions between authorities, manufacturers and Notified Bodies on the issue of new declarations of conformity. The cases in which no new declaration of conformity has been issued, may require increasing coordination and agreement between manufacturers and clients and/or authorities and/or suppliers or sub-contractors in the future.
In view of the fact that by 21 March 2010 many harmonized standards will lose their status as evidence of compliance with the essential requirements, we can only advise manufacturers at present to consider whether it may not be more sensible to issue a new declaration of conformity in order to keep all further discussions, phone conversations and correspondence to a minimum.
All declarations of conformity which are issued before 21 March 2010 and which are to document evidence of compliance with 2007/47/EC must include reference to 2007/47/EC. Such reference may be omitted in declarations of conformity issued after 21 March 2010, as Directive 2007/47/EC applies as a matter of principle and other options are no longer available.
Compliance with the essential requirements of the medical devices directive no longer ensured
Harmonized standards are published in the Official Journal of the European Union. Medical devices complying with the requirements of the standards listed in these publications may be assumed to comply with the essential requirements of the Medical Devices Directive.
Through this newsletter, we would like to draw your attention to the fact that many of these harmonized standards will become invalid by 21 March 2010 and will be replaced by new standards. Given this, these standards may no longer be used to assume compliance with the essential requirements of the Directive.
Please review the documentation of your medical devices to ensure that compliance with the essential requirements of the Medical Devices Directive is still maintained with the new editions of the harmonized standards. To continue to assume the compliance with the essential requirements of the Directive, revised or new requirements of these harmonized standards may have to be fulfilled.
The list of harmonized standards for general medical devices as per Directive 93/42/EEC can be found on the following web site:
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/european-standards/documents/harmonised-standards-legislation/list-references/medical-devices/index_en.htm
The list of harmonized standards for active implantable medical devices as per Directive 90/385/EEC can be found on the following web site:
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/european-standards/documents/harmonised-standards-legislation/list-references/implantable-medical-devices/index_en.htm
Disclaimer: This is a voluntary service provided by TÜV SÜD Product Service GmbH. While we analyse and interpret the relevant information very thoroughly, we accept no responsibility for the correctness of the information provided. Changes in the content of the interpretation on the part of the authorities are possible at any time.