Thursday, May 18, 2017

Seminar Topics:

• Current guidance around Medical Electrical Equipment for FDA 510(k)s & Health Canada
• IEC 60601-1 series:
  • • Intro to IEC 60601 -1 series with Collateral & Particular Standards
    • Design & compliance to IEC 60601-1 3rd edition (including AM1)
    • Changes to the 60601-1 series and supporting standards: Updates on what’s new and draft documents that may impact your Compliance strategy
• ISO 14971:2007 Risk Management File (RMF) Overview

See the detailed Seminar Agenda.

Sign-up for Workshop Closed

Bio’s of Presenters

Leo Eisner, principal medical device product safety & regulatory consultant of Eisner Safety Consultants.
Leo’s firm specializes in helping medical device manufacturers through product safety, international regulatory and quality system processes. He has been called the “IEC 60601-1 Guy” by his clients and associates. Leo’s focus is on active medical electrical equipment including home use and wearable devices. Leo is the US co-chair of IEC SC62D (majority of IEC 60601-2-xx standards), convener of IEC SC62D JWG9 (IEC/ISO80601-2-58) & a committee member of US TAG for TC62, SC62A, SC62D, & SyC AAL (Active Assisted Living System Committee – Home use medical and non-medical devices). Leo is a registered professional engineer in safety and has over 30 years experience in product safety. Leo is a member of RAPS, AAMI, ASQ, & IEEE. He’s manager of the LinkedIn discussion group IEC 60601 Series – Medical Electrical Equipment.

Peter Keith P.Eng, Senior Engineer and Technical Certifier at TÜV SÜD Canada Inc.
Peter is the lead medical services engineer at TÜV SÜD Canada with 10 + years of safety evaluation and regulatory experience, specializing in safety certification of medical and laboratory equipment such as hospital beds, ECGs, therapeutic lights, TENS, Lasers and more. Peter has participated on technical committees such as CACES (Canadian Advisory Committee on Electrical Safety) and assisted on the development of CSA SPE – 3000:2015. Peter is a licensed professional Engineer in Ontario and has evaluated over 400 medical and laboratory projects and given various seminars on regulatory and standards compliance.

Seminar Agenda:

Meet and Greet (9:00 AM)

Introduction to TÜV SÜD Canada & Presenter’s Backgrounds (9:15 AM)

Current US & Canadian Guidance for Medical Electrical Equipment
(9:30 to 10:45 AM)

Break time (15 Minutes)

Intro to IEC 60601-1 series (11:00 to 12:00 PM)

Q & A for Morning Session (12:00 – 12:15 PM)

Break for Lunch (lab tour and test demo) (12:15 to 1:30 PM)

Design and Compliance to 60601 – 1 3rd edition (1:30 to 2:30 PM)

Upcoming Standards Changes and Updates Related to 60601 Series
(2:30 to 3:30 PM)

Break time (15 Minutes)

ISO 14971:2007 Risk Management File (RMF) Overview (3:45 – 4:45 PM)

Q & A

This post discusses Health Canada’s most current List of Recognized Standards for Medical Devices effective 31 Aug 2015.

Health Canada updated their list of Recognized Standards for Medical Devices on August 31, 2015.  The changes included additions, updates and removals to the listing.  Part of the update was adding the Canadian National Version of IEC 60601-1, edition 3.1 (or 3rd edition + Amendment 1) which is the Canadian National Standard CAN/CSA C22.2 No. 60601-1:14 (issued in 2014).  It includes some Canadian National Deviations in the standard.  To find out more detail about this standard please refer to a blog post  I wrote back in 2014 on the topic.  The IEC 60601-1:2012-Ed.3.1 was also added to this Listing.

Several other changes of significance to the list of Recognized Standards for Medical Devices include.  This is a partial list of changes so refer to the list for more details:

1. The addition of the previous version of IEC 60601-1-11:2010-Ed. 1.0 Medical electrical equipment – Part 1-11: General requirements for basic safety and essential performance – Collateral Standard: Requirements for medical electrical equipment and medical electrical systems used in the home healthcare environment. For those that subscribe to the Eisner Safety Consultants Standards Reconnaissance Database you would know that the current version of IEC 60601-1-11 was updated in 2015.  This version of the standard is not on the Health Canada List of Recognized Standards for Medical Devices as of yet.
2. The removal of ISO 9919:2005 Medical electrical equipment – Particular requirements for the basic safety and essential performance of pulse oximeter equipment for medical use.  This standard has a replacement which was placed on the list previously which is ISO 80601-2-61:2011-Ed.1.0, Medical electrical equipment – Part 2-61: Particular requirements for basic safety and essential performance of pulse oximeter equipment.  In the Foreword of the ISO 80601-2-61:2011 it says “This first edition of ISO 80601-2-61 cancels and replaces the second edition of ISO 9919:2005, which has been revised to harmonize it with the third edition of IEC 60601-1:2005.” So, the ISO 9919 standard has now been replaced by ISO 80601-2-61.  To find out more details about this standard in regard to the FDA & Health Canada Recognized Standards Lists you may want consider subscribing to the Eisner Safety Consultants Standards Reconnaissance Database.  We provide you with the FDA & Health Canada information about each standard that is in the database.  This way you don’t have to search an extra databases as this information is all in one place for each standard.  
3. The list added another older standard IEC 62366:2007 Medical devices – Application of usability engineering to medical devices.  The more recent version is IEC 62366-1:2015 Medical devices – Part 1: Application of usability engineering to medical devices.  The Foreword of the most recent standard indicates “This first edition of IEC 62366-1, together with the first edition of IEC 62366-2, cancels and replaces the first edition of IEC 62366 published in 2007 and its Amendment 1 (2014).”  The summary of changes noted here is part of the information we provide in each of the current versions of the standards for our paid subscribers for the Eisner Safety Consultants Standards Reconnaissance Database
4. The Canadian and the International versions of IEC 60601-1, 2nd edition have been removed from the list including: CSA C22.2 NO. 601.1 M90 (R2006) Medical electrical equipment – Part 1: General requirements for safety (adopted amendment 2:1995 to IEC 601-1:1990) and IEC 60601-1:1988-Ed.2.0 Medical electrical equipment – Part 1: General requirements for basic safety + IEC 60601-1/Amd.1:1991 + IEC 60601-1/Amd.2:1995 + IEC 60601-1/Cor.1:1995.

These are just some of the changes that are of importance.  The below listings shows the August 31, 2015 Additions, Updates, and Removals to the Health Canada List of Recognized Standards for Medical Devices.  When there are updates to Regulatory Lists of Standards we will update the Eisner Safety Consultants Standards Reconnaissance Database listing as soon as possible so you are kept up to date on the changes to the standards of that specific Regulator. Currently we are monintoring the list of standards for FDA & Health Canada.  In the near future we will be adding in the European List of Harmonized Standards to this monitoring process.

Below are the 3 parts of the Health Canada list that have changed:

The Additions to the list of Recognized Standards include the following:

• ISO 5840-3:2013 Cardiovascular implants — Cardiac valve prostheses — Part 3: Heart valve substitutes implanted by transcatheter techniques
• ISO 14117:2012-Ed.1.0 Active implantable medical devices – Electromagnetic compatibility – EMC test protocols for implantable cardiac pacemakers, implantable cardioverter defibrillators and cardiac resynchronization devices
• IEC 60601-1:2012-Ed.3.1 Medical electrical equipment – Part 1: General requirements for basic safety and essential performance
• CAN/CSA-C22.2 NO. 60601-1:14 Medical electrical equipment – Part 1: General requirements for basic safety and essential performance
• IEC 60601-1-11:2010-Ed. 1.0 Medical electrical equipment – Part 1-11: General requirements for basic safety and essential performance – Collateral Standard: Requirements for medical electrical equipment and medical electrical systems used in the home healthcare environment
• IEC 60601-2-57:2011-Ed.1.0 Medical electrical equipment – Part 2-57: Particular requirements for the basic safety and essential performance of non-laser light source equipment intended for therapeutic, diagnostic, monitoring and cosmetic/aesthetic use
• IEC 62366:2007 Medical devices – Application of usability engineering to medical devices
• ISO 13408-1:2008 Aseptic processing of health care products – Part 1: General requirements
• ISO 13408-2:2003 Aseptic processing of health care products – Part 2: Filtration
• ISO 13408-3:2006 Aseptic processing of health care products – Part 3: Lyophilization
• ISO 13408-4:2005 Aseptic processing of health care products – Part 4: Clean-in-place technologies
• ISO 13408-5:2006 Aseptic processing of health care products – Part 5: Sterilization in place
• ISO 13408-6:2005 Aseptic processing of health care products – Part 6: Isolator systems
• ISO 13408-7:2012 Aseptic processing of health care products – Part 7: Alternative processes for medical devices and combination products
• ISO 14644-1:1999 Cleanrooms and associated controlled environments – Part 1: Classification of air cleanliness
• ISO 14644-2:2000 Cleanrooms and associated controlled environments – Part 2: Specifications for testing and monitoring to prove continued compliance with ISO 14644-1
• ISO 14644-3:2005 Cleanrooms and associated controlled environments – Part 3: Test methods
• ISO 14644-4:2001 Cleanrooms and associated controlled environments – Part 4: Design, construction and start-up
• ISO 14644-5:2004 Cleanrooms and associated controlled environments – Part 5: Operations
• ISO 14644-6:2007 Cleanrooms and associated controlled environments – Part 6: Vocabulary
• ISO 14644-7:2004 Cleanrooms and associated controlled environments – Part 7: Separative devices (clean air hoods, glove boxes, isolators and mini-environments)
• ISO 14644-8:2012 Cleanrooms and associated controlled environments – Part 8: Classification of air cleanliness by chemical concentration (ACC)
• ISO 14644-9:2012 Cleanrooms and associated controlled environments – Part 9: Classification of surface cleanliness by particle concentration
• ISO 14644-10:2013 Cleanrooms and associated controlled environments – Part 10: Classification of surface cleanliness by chemical concentration
• ISO 14698-1:2003 Cleanrooms and associated controlled environments – Biocontamination control – Part 1: General principles and methods
• ISO 14698-2:2003 Cleanrooms and associated controlled environments – Biocontamination control – Part 2: Evaluation and interpretation of biocontamination data
• ASTM F2028-14 Standard Test Methods for Dynamic Evaluation of Glenoid Loosening or Disassociation

The Updates to the list of Recognized Standards include the following:

• ISO 14708-2:2012 Implants for surgery – Active implantable medical devices – Part 2: Cardiac pacemakers
• IEC 60601-2-24:2012-Ed.2.0 Medical electrical equipment – Part 2-24: Particular requirements for the basic safety and essential performance of infusion pumps and controllers
  Note: Additional accuracy testing results for flow rates below 1 mL/h may be required depending on the pump’s intended use
• IEC 60825-1:2014-Ed.3.0 Safety of laser products – Part 1: Equipment classification and requirements
• CSA Z900.1-12 Cells tissues, and organs for transplantation: General requirements
• ASTM F1160-14 Standard Test Method for Shear and Bending Fatigue Testing of Calcium Phosphate and Metallic Medical and Composite Calcium Phosphate/Metallic Coatings
• ASTM F1377-13 Standard Specification for Cobalt-28Chromium-6Molybdenum Powder for Coating of Orthopedic Implants (UNS R30075)
• ASTM F1717-14 Standard Test Methods for Spinal Implant Constructs in a Vertebrectomy Model
• ASTM F1798-13 Standard Test Method for Evaluating the Static and Fatigue Properties of Interconnection Mechanisms and Subassemblies Used in Spinal Arthrodesis Implants
• ASTM F2943-14 Standard Guide for Presentation of End User Labeling Information for Musculoskeletal Implants

The Removals to the list of Recognized Standards include the following:

• ISO 9919:2005 Medical electrical equipment – Particular requirements for the basic safety and essential performance of pulse oximeter equipment for medical use
• ISO 21647:2004 Medical electrical equipment – Particular requirements for the basic safety and essential performance of respiratory gas monitors
  ISO 21647/Cor.1:2005
• ANSI/AAMI DF80:2003 Medical electrical equipment – Part 2-4: Particular requirements for the safety of cardiac defibrillators (including automated external defibrillators)
• ANSI/AAMI PC69:2000 Active implantable medical devices – Electromagnetic compatibility – EMC test protocols for implantable cardiac pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators
• ANSI/AAMI PC69:2007 Active implantable medical devices – Electromagnetic compatibility – EMC test protocols for implantable cardiac pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators
  ANSI/AAMI PC69/ERTA:2008
• CSA C22.2 NO. 601.1 M90 (R2006)
  Medical electrical equipment – Part 1: General requirements for safety (adopted amendment 2:1995 to IEC 601-1:1990)
• CSA C22.2 NO. 60601-1-2A-03 (R2006)
  Medical electrical equipment – Part 1-2: General requirements for safety – Collateral standard: Electromagnetic compatibility – Requirements and tests (Adopted Amendment 1:2004 to IEC 60601-1-2:2001)
• IEC 60601-1:1988-Ed.2.0
  Medical electrical equipment – Part 1: General requirements for basic safety
  IEC 60601-1/Amd.1:1991
  IEC 60601-1/Amd.2:1995
  IEC 60601-1/Cor.1:1995
• IEC 60601-1-2:2004-Ed.2.1
  Medical electrical equipment – Part 1-2: General requirements for safety – Collateral standard – Electromagnetic compatibility – Requirements and tests
• IEC 60601-1-4:2000-Ed.1.1
  Medical electrical equipment – Part 1-4: General requirements for safety – Collateral standard: Programmable electrical medical systems
• IEC 60601-1-6:2006-Ed.2.0
  Medical electrical equipment – Part 1-6: General requirements for basic safety and essential performance – Collateral Standard: Usability
• IEC 60601-2-10:1987-Ed.1.0
  Medical electrical equipment – Part 2-10: Particular requirements for the safety of nerve and muscle stimulators
  IEC 60601-2-10/Cor.1:1987
  IEC 60601-2-10/Amd.1:2001
• IEC 60601-2-25:1993-Ed.1.0
  Medical electrical equipment – Part 2-25: Particular requirements for the safety of electrocardiographs
  IEC 60601-2-25/Amd.1:1999
• IEC 60601-2-26:2002-Ed.2.0
  Medical electrical equipment – Part 2-26: Particular requirements for the safety of electroencephalographs
• IEC 60601-2-36:1997-Ed.1.0
  Medical electrical equipment – Part 2: Particular requirements for the safety of equipment for extracorporeally induced lithotripsy
• IEC 60601-2-47:2001-Ed.1.0
  Medical electrical equipment – Part 2-47: Particular requirements for the safety, including essential performance, of ambulatory electrocardiographic systems
• IEC 60601-2-51:2003-Ed.1.0
  Medical electrical equipment – Part 2-51: Particular requirements for safety, including essential performance, of recording and analysing single channel and multichannel electrocardiographs

If you need help withCAN/CSA C22.2 No. 60601-1:14 or IEC 60601-1, 3rd edition or edition 3.1 or you are interested in the Eisner Safety Consultants Standards Reconnaissance Database please email Leo Eisner directly at Leo@EisnerSafety.com, or call Leo at +1 (503)-244-6151. He is the Principal Consultant of Eisner Safety Consultants (bit.ly/EisnerSafetyConsultants).

Rob Packard, a Quality System & Regulatory expert of Medical Device Academy, was gracious enough to allow us to post these articles he wrote recently on Canadian Medical Device Regulations.  Thx Rob!

The first article is a hypothetical case study that explains the process of obtaining a Health Canada Medical Device License.

The second and third articles are a 2 Part Series on the 11 Steps to Obtaining CMDCAS Certification.

• Part 1 focuses on the process of verifying the classification, selecting a registrar and obtaining a quote for CMDCAS certification. 
• Part 2 focuses on the process of updating the quality system (Licensing, Mandatory Problem Reporting, & Recall Procedures), finding a distributor, training your staff that touches parts of the quality system that are impacted by the CMDR, conducting internal auditing to applicable sections of the CMDR, going thru the CMDCAS certification audit, and lastly if applicable your Submission of your License Application. 

Reminder post – withdrawal of CAN/CSA C22.2 No. 601.1-M90+A1+A2 is on June 30, 2014 & CAN/CSA-C22.2 No. 60601-1:14 was recently published

Withdrawal of CAN/CSA C22.2 No. 601.1-M90+A1+A2

After June 30, 2014 you will no longer be able to use CAN/CSA C22.2 No. 601.1-M90+A1+A2 for a Canadian Certification Project and it will be replaced by use of either CAN/CSA C22.2 No 60601-1:08 (equivalent to 3rd edition of IEC 60601-1with Canadian National Deviations) or CAN/CSA C22.2 No. 60601-1:14 (equivalent of IEC 60601-1, 3rd edition + A1 + Canadian National Deviations).

Recently Released CAN/CSA C22.2 No. 60601-1:14

CAN/CSA C22.2 No. 60601-1:14 was published a couple months ago and is still not added into Health Canada’s List of Recognized Standards.  Per our associate Christine Ruther recently indicated that “Health Canada…is open to receiving submissions that reference A1.  If A1 is applied, Health Canada would appreciate a gap analysis to identify where the differences in the versions might impact the safety and effectiveness of the device to aid the person reviewing the file.  (Such an analysis can be readily created.)”  This gap assessment should be conducted between the currently Recognized standard such as CAN/CSA C22.2 No 60601-1:08 against the CAN/CSA C22.2 No. 60601-1:14.

More details about these two subjects are noted in the below links that have been previously posted on our site:

CSA C22.2 No.601.1-M90 Medical Electrical Equipment Standard Withdrawal Notice

CAN/CSA C22.2 No. 60601-1:14 (Harmonized with Ed. 3.1) Recently Released

If you need additional support for IEC or CAN/CSA C22.2 No. 60601-1, 3rd edition + A1 email Leo Eisner at Leo@EisnerSafety.com, or call Leo at +1-(503)-244-6151. Leo is the Principal Consultant of Eisner Safety Consultants (bit.ly/EisnerSafetyConsultants).

This blog reviews the release of Canadian Standard CAN/CSA C22.2 No. 60601-1:14 & where accessible (Safety Test Agencies vs Health Canada)

Recently Released CAN/CSA C22.2 No. 60601-1:14

Good news!! Canada has recently released CAN/CSA C22.2 No. 60601-1:14 (:14 = 2014 year of release) which is their aligned Canadian National version of IEC 60601-1:2005 (3rd ed.) + Amendment 1:2012 (also known as IEC 60601-1, edition 3.1).  Standards Council of Canada’s (SCC) listing of this standard is titled: “CAN/CSA C22.2 NO. 60601-1:14 – Medical electrical equipment – Part 1: General requirements for basic safety and essential performance (Adopted IEC 60601-1:2005, third edition, 2005-12, including amendment 1:2012, with Canadian deviations)”.  The SCC website for this standards points to 3 sources for obtaining the standard.  CSA Group, TechStreet, and StandardsStore.ca.  The standard is 1062 pages long because Canada requires English and French. CAN/CSA C22.2 No. 60601-1:2014 replaces CAN/CSA-C22.2 NO. 60601-1:08 (R2013) or CAN/CSA-C22.2 NO. 60601-1:08.  I have been advised that the National Deviations in this version of the standard should be very similar to CAN/CSA-C22.2 NO. 60601-1:08.

As of March 1, 2014 Canada is now accepting edition 3.1 with National Deviations under CAN/CSA C22.2 No. 60601-1:14.  I have been advised by CSA and a couple other Safety Test Agencies that they are starting to test to this standard.  Note that Health Canada has not updated their list of Recognized Standards for Medical Devices since Oct 2013 and so this standard is not in their current list of standards.  Currently Health Canada’s list only includes the 3rd ed. of IEC & CAN/CSA which on the list is either IEC 60601-1:2005 + Corrigendum 1: 2006 + Corr. 2:2007 or CAN/CSA-C22.2 NO. 60601-1:08.  I am sure you will be able to use this newer version of the standard for Health Canada submissions but I would check with your reviewer from Health Canada if you are submitting using this version of the standard what they may expect.  They may ask for a comparison between 3rd edition and ed. 3.1.  I would assume in their next update of the List of Recognized Standards Listing they will add this standard.

As with all the changes in standards I am asked when will each country and Safety Test Agency require the newer version of the standard and when will the older version be phased out.  At this point there are no firm dates and I will advise as soon as I find out more information on the subject.

If you need help with working with a Safety Test Lab to get a Certification to IEC 60601-1 or National Versions of the Standard, email Leo Eisner directly at Leo@EisnerSafety.com, or call Leo at +1-(503)-244-6151. He is the Principal Consultant of Eisner Safety Consultants (bit.ly/EisnerSafetyConsultants).

So, what are the guidance documents and the deadlines to provide feedback to the IMDRF?

WARNING; It is critical to be aware that each comment template is specific to a specific draft guidance document and if you don’t use the proper one your comments could be skipped over or not aligned with the proper guidance document and you would then not have your comments covering what you are commenting on so be careful and double check on the IMDRF website as they may update the documents and this post will not go back and update these links.

First, let’s look at the UDI System for Medical Devices (Version 2.0).  The GHTF issued a version of this guidance back on 16 Spet 2011.  The IMDRF document clarifies and supplements the GHTF document. From the introduction the Guidance document tells us: “This guidance provides a framework for those regulatory authorities that intend to develop their own UDI Systems…In order to reach the goal of a globally harmonized UDI System, it is critical that these systems are implemented without regional or national differences. This guidance is intended to provide a high-level conceptual view of how a global UDI System should work.”  It goes on to say that additional guidance may be needed once the core concepts are implemented.

The Guidance goes on and indicates that there are 7 fundamental concepts of a globally harmonized UDI System and includes:

• the UDI and UDI Carrier are based on global standards
• a UDI applied to a medical device anywhere in the world should be able to be used globally to meet the UDI requirements of any regulatory authority
• national or local identification numbers should NOT be a substitute for UDI
• regulatory Authorities should not specify how to modify these standards
• the UDI Database (UDID) core elements should not be modified
• the UDID should use the HL7 SPL for data submission
• each medical device needs to be identified by a UDI

Comments are due by 31 July 2013.  If you want to submit comments please use either of the comment templates Comments template – DOC (32kb) or  Comments template – PDF (56kb).  They ask that the comments are sent to EC-IMDRF2013-SECRETARIAT@ec.europa.eu.

Let’s look know at the other documents of interest which are a set of 2 documents that are related to the Third Party Audit Process.   These two guidances aim to establish a common set of criteria for medical device auditing and monitoring organizations and the competency of their employees.

The first of the series of two guidance documents we will look at is the draft guidance on Recognition and Monitoring of Organizations undertaking Audits of Medical Device Manufacturers issued on 5 April 2013 with comments being due on 14 June 2013.  The guidance says “IMDRF developed this document to encourage and support global convergence of regulatory systems.”  The document goes on to say that the concept was first addressed by the GHTF and “IMDRF seeks to further the work of the GHTF in this document by providing a common set of criteria to be utilized by the Regulatory Authorities for the recognition and monitoring… of entities that perform audits…”  “The functions covered by an Auditing Organization, within the scope of this document, and roles assigned are described” below:

Functions                                         Audits On-site             Audit/Decision Off-site

Conduct assessment application review       n/a                             Program administrator
to determine audit team competence
required, select the audit team members,
and determine audit duration

Assessment of quality management            Lead Auditor/Auditor    n/a
system

Assessment of product related                    Technical Expert         n/a
technologies

Assessment of Technical Files                   Technical Expert         n/a

Assessment of Regulations                        Lead Auditor/Auditor/   Final Reviewer/
                                                                Technical Expert         Technical Expert

Comments are due by 14 June 2013.  If you want to submit comments please use either of the comment templates Comments template – PDF (31kb) or  Comments template – DOC (54kb).  They ask that the comments are sent to the Medical Device Single Audit Program (MDSAP) Working Group Chair, Ms. Kim Trautman and with a copy to the IMDRF Secretariat.

The second in this series of draft guidance documents is titled Auditor competency and training requirements for organizations undertaking audits of medical device manufacturers.  It was issued on 31 January 2013 with comments due by 14 June 2013. The draft guidance states “The purpose of this document is to specify competency requirements that shall be demonstrated and maintained by recognized Auditing Organization for personnel involved in medical device regulatory audits and decision making.”  The document is “for personnel involved in audits and decision making functions for assessing conformity with regulatory requirements for medical device manufacturers, and includes:

• Defining knowledge, skills, and abilities
• Criteria for various degrees of competency based on roles in audits and decision making functions
• Assisting in evaluation and development
• Providing a basis for identifying training needs

If you are interested in the IEC 60601 Series of Standards for Medical Electrical Equipment (MEE) and Medical Electrical Systems (MES), this is the group that will allow you to share your experiences, ask questions and discuss your opinions. This is a platform for 60601 experts, and those that want to learn more, to discuss topics related to this large set of standards related to MEE & MES including 7 Collateral Standards (and counting) and over 60+ Particular Standards. In addition to these Particular Standards, there are many other standards that apply to MEE & MES. 

This series of standards is very important in the medical device regulatory world as the IEC 60601 series of standards are the “Gold” standard for national regulatory agencies such as the FDA, Health Canada, The EU Medical Device Directives (MDD & AIMDD), the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour & Welfare (MHLW), and many other national regulators. Most countries adopt these standards into their national standards mostly without modification but on occasion national deviations are needed to meet the national electrical code among many other issues. 

This group is here to discuss a wide range of topics related to the IEC 60601 series of standards, the regulatory impact of these standards (such as the differences in 3rd ed. vs 2nd ed. of IEC 60601-1 & country specific regulatory impacts), the changes continually happening in this field (i.e. 3rd ed. of IEC 60601-1, IEC 60601-1, 3rd ed. + Amendment 1, etc.), what are the regulatory requirements for specific countries as they evolve (like in the Middle East & Asia), and many more topics within the medical device world are also up for play.

The group is run by Leo Eisner of Eisner Safety Consultants, an expert in the IEC 60601 series of standards, and the group is owned by IEC.  Please come and join us in this new adventure and see what you can bring to this new group and/or learn from your group members.

* NOTE:  The IEC is the owner of this LinkedIn sub-group under their main umbrella IEC LinkedIn Group.  Leo Eisner is the manager of the group and if you have any questions with regard to the IEC 60601 series of standards on Medical Electrical Equipment Sub-Group please contact Leo.

First a closing statement press release from the GHTF president was issued recently (dated Nov 2012) and on the International Medical Device Regulators Forum (IMDRF) webpage for the Archived GHTF documents there is a statement at the top of that page stating:

• “Important! The organisation GHTF no longer exists, and has been permanently replaced by the IMDRF. All material appearing on this page and the pages within has been moved here from the old GHTF site for preservation, and is no longer current. It is historic information and should not be acted upon.”

Another point to note is that the last set of documents from the GHTF were issued on 2 Nov 2012 and the IMDRF website in the last couple days seems to have been totally updated and reorganized in an easy to use format that will make it easy for the public to view this valuable resource and to stay up to date on the happenings of this organization.   Hopefully,  in the next decade, or sooner, the IMDRF will begin the process of Harmonizing areas of the international medical device regulatory arena so medical device manufacturers won’t have to deal with varying regulations through out the world.

On the Archived GHTF webpage it also states that they have brought all of the current and archived GHTF documents over to the IMDRF website.  Note, that the GHTF website is still up but it is not clear what will happen to it or when it will be taken down.

—————————————————————————————————————–

More about the IMDRF: Straight from the IMDRF website the following gives you some information about the organization.  If you have furhter questions about the organization please contact the IMDRF secretariat at imdrf.secretariat@tga.gov.au

IMDRF is a voluntary group of medical device regulators from around the world who have come together to build on the strong foundational work of the Global Harmonization Task Force on Medical Devices (GHTF) and aims to accelerate international medical device regulatory harmonization and convergence.

IMDRF was born in October 2011, when representatives from the medical device regulatory authorities of Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, European Union, Japan and the United States, as well as the World Health Organization (WHO) met in Ottawa to address the establishment and operation of this new Forum. A copy of the outcome statement from this meeting is available from the Meetings page.

Further information about the work and operations of IMDRF is available in its Terms of Reference (Note, the last page of this document has an organizational chart showing the roles and inte-relations of these roles).

On the About Us webpage  they go on to describe the different roles and responsibilities within the IMDRF.   The functions described are the IMDRF Management Committee; the Management Committee Members (Australia, Brazil, Canada, Europe (the EU), Japan, and the USA);  Official Observers (World Health Organization {WHO}); Affiliate Organizations; and Working Groups.

RAPS Regulatory Focus Article posted 30 Oct 2013 on the subject is interesting and provides some additional background and perspective.

You don’t have to leave your office to join in on the presentation and as a special thank you for visiting us at Eisner Safety Consultants you can get a 20% discount.  To find out more about the presentation & discount just click here for the details and also some other past presentations that Eisner Safety Consultants have presented for FX Conferences previously.

On August 20, 2012 IEC released the consolidated edition 3.1 of IEC 60601-1:2012 which is a combination of IEC 60601-1:2005 (also known as 3rd ed. of IEC 60601-1) combined with Amendment 1:2012 (A1).  

To find out more about what a Consolidated edition is read our previous post on edition 3.1.

Edition 3.1 is available in English in pdf format at several websites such as at Techstreet and at the IEC website http://webstore.iec.ch/webstore/webstore.nsf/artnum/046826!opendocument.  The English & French version is now available from the IEC website as a pdf or as a Disc, as of 18 Oct 2012.

AAMI has indicated that it may take til Nov/Dec ’12 before the US consolidated edition 3.1 of IEC 60601-1 is published as a US National Standard under AAMI ES-60601-1:2005 + A1:2012.  The US National version of IEC 60601-1 Amendment 1 should be issued around Oct /Nov ’12.  This will be the document that is issued alone and not integrated into AAMI ES-60601-1:2005 so the A1 will have to be read with the AAMI ES-60601-1:2005 next to it (cumbersome to use 2 documents and try to read them together).

As I hear more information about this issue I will send out updates notices.