COMMISSION IMPLEMENTATION DECISION M/575 was issued 14 April 2021: This is a list of standards the EU Commission is hoping to Harmonize under MDR and IVDR.  One of the issues is the HAS consultant has issued a negative assessment on EN ISO 14971 which the CEN/CLC JTC3 leadership is working with the HAS consultant to address the issues and to draft acceptable European annexes so Harmonization can occur for the standard.  Many of the standards on the list in M/575 reference to EN ISO 14971 so it is highly likely that CEN and CENELEC will reject this newest version of the EU Commission Standardization Request again and we won’t have any Harmonized Standards by the Date of Application (26 May 2021) for the MDR which will cause lots of problems for manufacturers and Notified Bodies and cause more delays for the MDR & likely even for the IVDR I’m sorry to say.  Also, the MDCG 2021-5 “Guidance on standardisation for medical devices” doesn’t seem to clarify when harmonized standards are not published through the Offical Journal of the EU what to do.  In section 3.1 mentions Harmonized standards are voluntary with respect to the MDR & IVDR as they were for the MDD, AIMDD, & IVDD.  The closest the MDCG gets to it is to use the “State of Art” standards approach in section 3.5.

Another important observation is all the newest versions of the General & Collateral IEC 60601 Standards that were issued Summer of 2020 (EN versions were issued later in the year) are listed in Annex I of the EU Commission Standardization Request as the deadline to adopt these standards by 27 May 2024 — These are EN 60601-1, ed. 3.2; EN 60601-1-2, ed. 4.1; EN 60601-1-3, ed. 2.2; EN 60601-1-6, ed. 3.2; EN 60601-1-8, ed. 2.2; EN 60601-1-9, ed. 1.2; EN 60601-1-10, ed. 1.2; EN 60601-1-11, ed. 2.1; & EN 60601-1-12, ed. 1.1 – The Particular Standards EN 60601-2-XX or EN ISO 80601-2-XX listed are primarily based on the previous versions of the General & Collaterals of IEC 60601 standards on the M/575 list so this will likely cause conflicts vs the listed new standards mentioned here.

Follow the full discussion and updates to this post on LinkedIn

Confused this is what Eisner Safety Consultants experts deal with all the time for countries for these and many other standards, regulations, laws, directives, and more. Leo Eisner is an expert on standards development and sit on many standards committees. Let us help you through this process. Need help with Essential Performance. Feel free to schedule a call with Leo www.EisnerSafety.com/Schedule-Call/ or contact Leo at Leo@EisnerSafety.com or through our contact form at https://eisnersafety.com/contact_eisner_safety/.

Notified bodies can now do remote audits for the MDR and IVDR — Member states need to Notify the EU Commission of Notified Bodies not conducting on-site audits & the period of time this will not be happening. So remote audits for these NBs won’t be happening immediately – but this is a big change! EUR-Lex – 52021XC0111(01) – EN – EUR-Lex Each Competent Authority will need to review each separate NB’s justifications and procedures separately and this is a COVID-19 exemption only so this is temporary. Once the Commission says COVID-19 crisis is over this goes away.

Follow this discussion on LinkedIn

To sign up for this Zoom conversation click here. This Zoom Conversation is being hosted by Rob Packard of Medical Device Academy.

Learn about some of the major changes from the IEC 60601 Amendments coming during this Zoom conversation. Read the below infographic to get an understanding of which standards are being updated, when the updates are estimated, how long the proposed transition period is, what are some of the concerns to consider, and what ways can we help you prepare and train your staff up for these changes.

As a Senior Contributor to InCompliance, many years I am asked to update my articles to be placed in the Annual Guide but rarely do 2 of my articles show up in the Guide in a year. This year 2 of my popular articles have worked there way into the annual guide.

THE EU’S MEDICAL DEVICE REGULATION (EU) 2017/745 – ARE YOU READY FOR HUGE SWEEPING CHANGES?

The article now starts off with “Less than 3 Months Left to Implement the EU MDR“. The article was originally written on June 28, 2019, and updated on February 1, 2020.

THE FUTURE OF THE IEC 60601 SERIES: AN UPDATE

“I have been writing and talking about the IEC 60601 series of standards for a very long time, but I have presented on this subject more often in the last couple of years since there is so much changing on a regular basis.” The article was originally written on October 31, 2019, and updated on February 1, 2020.

The Medical Device Coordination Group (MDCG) is meeting on March 11 & 12th to hold a series of meetings. Part of these meetings includes hearing feedback from industry and Notified Bodies on stakeholder preparedness for the application of the MDR on 26 May 2020.

Some of the topics to be discussed include:

• Updates on MDCG Subgroups
• MDR/IVDR Implementing Acts
• Commission’s Progress report on Notified Bodies designation process under MDR /IVDR
• EUDAMED db – state of play
• Expert Panels – State of play on setting up of Expert Panels

The MDCG will discuss three transitional provisions:

1. Guidance on significant changes [Art. 120.3 (EU) 2017/745] with regard to devices covered by certificates according to 90/385/EEC or 93/42/EEC – for endorsement
2. Class I transitional provisions in Article 120 (3)(4) – for endorsement
3. Guidance on transitional provisions for consultations of authorities on devices containing ancillary medicinal products and on devices manufactured using TSE susceptible animal tissues – for information

Additionally, some interesting topics include:

• Discussions on the developments with regard to guidance on MDSAP (Medical Device Single Audit Programme)
• EU Participation in the IMDRF (International Medical Devices Regulators Forum)

Draft Agendas are available here: 11 March 2020 – MDCG (MDR/IVDR) High Level – Draft Agenda, 11-12 March 2020 – MDCG (MDR/IVDR) – Draft Agenda, and 12 March 2020 – Meeting between MDCG & Stakeholders MDCG (MDR/IVDR) – Draft Agenda

Need help with regulatory, MDR, quality, or compliance support with IEC 60601 series of standards support please schedule a call.

EU Commission promised 20 Designations

12 Notified Bodies Designated to MDR (9) & IVDR (3*)

*All 3 IVDR Notified Bodies have MDR designation as well, so that can be counted as double counting. It depends on your perspective.

2 NB’s are likely to be “de-designated” (not sure of the proper term yet) end of Jan 2020 based on Brexit. That would be BSI Assurance UK Ltd.

The EU Commission has promised more NB’s to be designated in the 1st quarter of 2020. Let’s hope this will get us to at least 20 NB’s.

Two last-minute Christmas presents were BSI Group Netherlands IVDR and Medcert’s MDR designations on 24 & 25 Dec respectively.

Few products have been CE marked to the MDR that have gone through a NB review process. Typically the process is taking at least a year or more. Your quality system and product files need to be reviewed.

You are running out of time with the transition only about 5 months away.

Not all NB’s have full coverage of the NANDO codes so check the NANDO database (MDR link) or check with your NB.

May you have a Happy, Safe, & Prosperous New Year and may your medical device be CE Marked under the MDR in the New Year.

Stop the Presses and add these earth shattering Regulations to your reading list for the next week or two:

• Medical Device Regulation (EU) 2017/745 and
• In Vitro Diagnostic Regulation (EU) 2017/746

Bassil Akra of TÜV SÜD some of the costs of this transition in his post on LinkedIn. It ain’t going to be cheap!

Back to our regularly scheduled post:

This Friday 5 May 2017 should be marked in your calendar or journal as a momentous date when the EU Official Journal will publish the Medical Device and In-Vitro Diagnostic Regulations and the transition periods for both start (3 years for the MDR & 5 years for the IVDR)!!  This is the start of a turning point for many medical device and IVD manufacturers as the clock starts ticking away til the end of the transition periods of these new Regulations.  If you haven’t started your transition planning strategies for your products & product families the pressure should be mounting quickly as there is so much to deal with for this transition time. Check out these resources for learning more about the MDR & IVDR. See below for some more details about the challenges you need to consider and START PLANNING for NOW (don’t wait)!

There is no grandfathering once the transition period ends for the applicable Regulation.  So, in 3 years and a day or so if you don’t meet the MDR or 5 years & a day or so if you don’t meet the IVDR you won’t be able to CE Mark your device and sell or distribute your medical or IVD device in the EU (& hopefully the UK which is in the middle of Brexit implications as UK will not be part of the EU by end of transition period).

We have talked about some of the challenges in the implementation of the MDR but here are more details to consider for your strategic planning:

• New definitions to deal with including nanomaterial, Unique Device Identifier, interoperability, economic operator, among other new & modified definitions.
• Person Responsible for Regulatory Compliance: Identify personnel that is  responsible for regulatory compliance with the Regulation and have a minimum work experience in the applicable device field and a minimum of academic qualifications.
• Enormous Single EU Database (not ready yet): Impacts all Economic Operators (which includes manufacturers) – Will register all devices, manufacturers, Economic Operators, CE Certificates, new clinical investigations, & incident reporting.  Will manage all Unique Device Identifications and Single Registration Numbers (SRN).
• Regulations are much more explicit now for the Quality Management System (QMS) & Risk Management System (RMS) requirements.  Beyond just what is in EN 13485 (ISO 1385:2016) & EN 14971
• Economic Operators (new to MDR): Impacts the activities of EU Representatives, Importers, Distributors & Manufacturers – Different Responsibilities depending on type of Economic Operators.
• Traceability of Devices Between Economic Operators: Between all Economic Operators (wow that in itself can be huge!) and all the way down to the healthcare institutions & in some cases down to the patients devices used on.
• Annex I now called Safety & Performance Requirements (not Essential Requirements): Much more prescriptive, addition of UDI & SRN to labelling requirements, all manufacturers will need to update all their Annex I checklists, new Clinical Evaluation & Clinical Performance Evaluations requirements
• Clinical Data: Much more prescriptive especially for higher risk class devices (class III & implantable devices) – Clinical Investigations needed in many cases now & restrictions of the type of clinical data allowed for class III devices (much more restrictive using equivalency data), post market clinical follow-up requirements for high risk class devices (i.e. annual summary reports for Class III & implantable devices).
• Notified Bodies: Much more prescriptive in competency requirements, conflict of interest, designation process, etc.  The end result is fewer Notified Bodies & Notified Bodies with narrower scopes after the designation process.  Also, with the nexus of  the EU regulations, Canada’s MDSAP requirements, and medical device manufacturers transitioning to ISO 13485:2016 the Notified Bodies resources are being strained which means less resources available to the medical device manufacturers. The limited resources means it may be a challenge to complete these processes without hitting the edge or past the transition period so start now or you may not be able to keep all your CE medical devices on the EU market in about 3 years from now when the clock runs out.

If you need help with your EU MDR or IVDR transition planning please email Leo Eisner at Leo at EisnerSafety dot com, or call Leo at +1 (503)-244-6151. He is the Principal Consultant of Eisner Safety Consultants.

Since our original post (below) we have made 3 additional updates to provide you with a lot more info and resources.  Check out our updates in this LinkedIn Article.

Updates are all underlined:

Mar 7, ’17 updates:

* addition of the EU Council vote & date of release of final text

* an important change that manufacturers will need to deal with, and

* addition of 4 resources to list of helpful resources

Mar 12, ’17 update: add in Table of Contents LinkedIn Article

Mar 17, ’17 update: RAPS Article by Rod Ruston

Our original post was on March 1, 2017 is titled EU MDR & IVDR – Final Versions – Are You Ready, Transition Period Starts Soon.

If you need help with your EU MDR or IVDR transition planning please email Leo Eisner at Leo at EisnerSafety dot com, or call Leo at +1 (503)-244-6151. He is the Principal Consultant of Eisner Safety Consultants.

Some of the changes manufacturers will have to deal with include:

*Quality Management Systems
*Clinical Evidence Requirements
*Authorized Representatives Requirements and Liability
*You may need to change Notified Bodies if their scope changes during the designation process
*Need to prepare and implement for Unique Device Identifiers (UDI), starting with the highest risk class
*Person responsible for regulatory compliance in your company – minimum requirements
*Classification rules will change & some devices that are not considered medical device currently will fall under the MDR
*Classification rules will impact IVDs significantly under the IVDR
*Updates to post market surveillance & vigilance requirements
*Economic operators in the supply chain will have some changes to the obligations per the MDR or IVDR

Here are some resources to share with you:

greenlight.guru Webinars on How to Prepare for the New EU Medical Device Regulations (MDR) and How to Prepare for the New EU In Vitro Diagnostics Regulations (IVDR)

For the following 3 BSI White Papers* please select the title from the BSI White Paper webpage.

BSI’s white paper* on the MDR “Planning for implementation of the European Union Medical Devices Regulations – Are you prepared?”

BSI’s white paper* on the IVDR titled “How to prepare for and implement the upcoming IVDR – Dos and don’ts”

BSI’s white paper* on the MDR & IVDR draft text (article updated Oct 2015) titled “UPDATED: The proposed EU regulations for medical and in vitro diagnostic devices”

BSI webpage for white papers* has additional white papers on medical devices / IVDs and quality system requirements.

One of my favorite blogs to follow on the MDR changes is Erik Vollebregt’s Medicaldeviceslegal.com blog.  Erik does an excellent job providing really great information on the subject and keeping his finger on the pulse of the issue at hand.

* Note, through out the BSI White paper series I have had the honor of being on the Advisory Panel to help shape the series and review each of the white papers to provide my years of experience in the medical device industry and the regulatory world.

De-notification of EU Notified Bodies under MDD

The number of EU Notified Bodies (NBs) under the MDD has dropped from about 80 to less than 60 because of the increasingly more stringent NB requirements.  Are you sure your Notified Body scope still covers your products or are they de-notified?  The French Competent Authority (National Agency for Safety of Medicines and Health Product [ANSM]) in late 2016 published an Information Bulletin.

Also, what is going to happen when the Notified Bodies apply for designation under the MDR and when will your Notified Body get approved for the designation under the MDR.  The designation process may take a year or more and some NB’s may not get designated for all they expect or they may decide to shutter their doors, among other scenarios.  So, make sure to read the notifications in the above paragraph and also stay in close contact with your NB to make sure you don’t get left in the cold without a proper NB for your product lines.

If you need help with your EU MDR or IVDR transition planning please email Leo Eisner at Leo at EisnerSafety dot com, or call Leo at +1 (503)-244-6151. He is the Principal Consultant of Eisner Safety Consultants.

White Paper on The growing role of human factors and usability engineering for medical devices

This white paper is on “The growing role of human factors and usability engineering for medical devices”and is focused on “…applying knowledge of human capabilities and limitations Human Factors and Usability Engineering (HF/UE) contributes to the design of intuitive displays, controls, and other interfaces that substantially reduce the risk of user error.”  It is written by Bob North, Human Centered Strategies.

I have the distinct pleasure and honor of assisting BSI review this white paper as a member of the BSI Medical Devices White Paper Advisory Panel for this series of white papers.

White Paper Series 

This is the last planned white paper in this series of white papers.  BSI said of the series that “…we are…producing a series of medical devices white papers. These will keep you up to date with regulations, developments and help you prepare for changes within your industry.”

The other white papers in the series you may be interested in reading, as they are very timely and current, are below:

• Negotiating the innovation and regulatory conundrum
• Engaging stakeholders in the home medical device market
• What you need to know about the FDA’s UDI system final rule
• Effective post-market surveillance; Understanding and conducting vigilance and post-market clinical follow-up
• The proposed EU regulations for medical and in vitro diagnostic devices: An overview of the likely outcomes and consequences for the market
• Generating clinical evaluation reports: A guide to effectively analysing medical device safety and performance

You can sign-up for future white papers or sign-up for their industry sectors newsletter.

If you need help with your EU CE Mark Medical Device Directive or IVD Directive Technical Files or Design Dossiers or preparing for your Notified Body Audit, 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).