Dear fellow colleagues,

Let me deliver my selection of highlights on the status of the regulation of medical devices in Russia and the Eurasian Customs Union in February:

1. Price regulation for implantable medical devices in Russia
   One of the most significant topics is the development of price regulations for implantable medical devices for state programmes of guarantees on gratuitous medical care. Following the publication of Government Resolution #1517 in January 2016, on 10 February 2016, Roszdravnadzor (Russian medical device regulator responsible for price regulation and control) published a list of 412 manufacturers, Russian authorised representatives and distributors to whom it will be sending requests to provide information for the calculation of weighted-average prices regarding the medical devices included in this The regulator recommends submitting this information using a newly createdelectronic database no later than 30 days following the day of receiving the inquiry. In parallel, the Russian Ministry of Health has clarified some categories on the list of implantable medical devices subject to price regulations (see the clause below).

2. Amendments to Russian Public Health Protection Federal Law
   At the start of February 2016, The Russian Ministry of Health suggested a number of amendments to the Russian Federal Law 323 on Public Health Protection in the Russian Federation (link in Russian). Though this law is extremely high level and fundamental healthcare act, some of these amendments are relevant to medical devices:

• Extension of the number of cases when a medical device needs no registration or is allowed to be imported into Russia unregistered; e.g., medical devices imported for research and scientific needs, forensic medicine, trade exhibitions, as well as for vital requirements for a particular patient (using special permissions).
• The draft introduces the definition of an implantable medical device, which is in line with similar internqtional GHTF definition
• The draft clarifies categories of implantable medical devices subject to price regulations.

This legal initiative is not yet adopted and is currently in the development phase; the draft can be traced online via the official Russian regulation web portal.

3. Status of Eurasian Medical Device Integration
   Eurasian integration – how does it work in practice? Though common Eurasian medical device and pharmaceutical regulations formally came into force in January 2016, for the time being, no information is available from member states pointing to the fact that applicants can take advantage of new registration During the Eurasian session of the seminar held by Roszdravnadzor on 4 February 2016, the speaker from the Eurasian Commission reviewed the status of second and third level regulations, and it was announced that these would take effect in March 2016. Also confirmed was the transition period of five years during which a manufacturer will be able to chose either to submit using “old” national or “new” Eurasian processes; previously, the timeline for the transition period had been interpreted ambiguously.

In this blog, I will keep an updated focus on imitative strategic Eurasian medical device updates, as well as on other regulatory updates, which you can follow using WordPress, Twitter or the LinkedIn group.

Alexey Stepanov
Alexey@medicaldevicesinrussia.com