Dear Colleagues and Group Members,

Welcome to my monthly update on the latest news on medical device regulations in Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union. Here are three of the most important updates for March 2017:

1. Russia Released Requirements on Technical Files and Instructions for Use of Medical Devices

On 15^th March 2017, the Russian Ministry of Health released Order #11N (link in Russian) with a list of requirements for technical files and instructions for use of medical and in-vitro devices (IVD). Undoubtedly, this is one of the most important and long-awaited Orders concerning medical device regulations issued in Russia in the last few years. Since the Russian medical device regulation system changed in 2013, information on the structure of technical documentation was available only as recommendations or voluntary standards, which could be interpreted differently by different institutions. This was one of the most common sources of a lack of understanding of registration requirements and subsequent registration delays.

The new requirements became effective from 24^th March 2017. Since this date, manufacturers have had to ensure that technical files in registration dossiers for medical devices contain 20 mandatory clauses/chapters (and seven additional clauses for IVD products). Meanwhile the structure of so-called “operational documentation” (i.e. instructions for use (IFU) /product inserts/user manuals) must contain 21 clauses/chapters for all medical devices, with 19 additional clauses for IVD products.

As this regulation is relatively recent and no additional guidance has been published, it is difficult to assess the impact at this stage, but it should be noted that some requirements are quite new, for example, one of the requirements for IFU is to provide “the list of data, keys, passwords, and software necessary to mount, set up, operate, and maintain the medical device provided by the manufacturer” (see clause 11g) or to include “the list of national <i.e. Russian?> standards applied by the manufacturer” (see clause 11h).

I will closely follow the development of this topic in my blog and publish an analysis of new requirements relating to any additional guidance in future posts of this blog.

2. Consulting on Russian Medical Device Registration Procedure

Following Resolution #160 published last month which (among other initiatives) provided the possibility of official consultations on the medical device registration process on behalf of Russian regulatory expert centres, in March 2017 Roszdravnadzor (the Russian medical device regulator) published the draft regulation with a detailed description of the future consultation procedure. According to the document, consultancy will be performed by two Russian expert organisations involved in the registration process, namely VNIIMT (ВНИИМТ) and CMKEE(ЦМИКЭЭ). Consultations could cover registration and re-registration procedures, question classification of medical devices according to Russian regulations and could be carried out by answering questions posed by applicants, both in oral and written forms.

During consultations, experts cannot perform preliminary assessments of a dossier and cannot cover questions regarding expert evaluation.
A consultancy meeting should be scheduled based on the contract between an applicant and expert centre, and should occur within thirty days of receipt of the applicant`s request for a meeting.

The cost of consulting services and their schedules will be determined by each expert centre.

3. Reporting Adverse Events in Belarus

In March 2017, the Belorussian Ministry of Health clarified its requirements for reporting adverse events for manufacturers of medical devices. According to a letter released on 17th March 2017, the following information must be reported: “serious or unexpected side-effects not mentioned in the instructions for use <of a medical device>, all adverse events during its usage/exploitation, peculiarities of interaction with other medical devices” to include facts of substandard quality and circumstances creating a threat to life and health of patients and medical personnel”. In the same letter, the regulator provided a form for manufacturers or distributors to use for reporting events and warned about responsibility measures in case of potential violations.

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My blog is a non-commercial project aimed to make Russian and Eurasian medical device regulations clearer. I would like to remind that you can get my updates directly via e-mail by using the “Follow” button on the toolbar of this page.