Dear colleagues,
This is a selection of the latest updates in medical device regulation across Russia and the Eurasian Union countries for January 2019.
- Eurasian regulations on quality management inspections
The regulation 106 with requirements for the quality management system (QMS) for manufacturers of medical devices for the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) registration procedure came into force in March 2018. However, until today the list of organisations conducting these inspections have not been officially published. At the beginning of 2019, we can see the development in the regulations on this subject.
Thus, on 11 January 2019, the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) published a draft document ‘on the requirements for inspecting organisations with the authority to inspect manufacturers of medical devices’ (link in Russian).
Later, on 28 January 2018, two potential organisations appeared on this list: the Russian Ministry of Health published a draft document (link in Russian) suggesting that two Russian governmental bodies, Roszdravnadzor and Rosatom, perform QMS inspections of medical device manufacturers according to the EAEU requirements.
It should be also recalled that abovementioned regulation #106 set the end of the transition period and start of QMS inspections for the EAEU medical approval process as of March 2019.
- Some updates in local registration procedures for Russia and Belarus:
There were also some updates for local medical device regulation systems:
On 26 December 2018, the Russian medical device regulator Roszdravnadzor published ‘Methodological recommendations on the procedure for conducting an examination of the quality, efficacy and safety of medical products for state registration’ (link in Russian), approved by both expert organisations involved in the medical registration process. The document may be useful in understanding detailed requirements, national standards and templates of forms used for every step of the medical device examination process during registration in Russia.
Also, on 11 January 2019, the Ministry of Health of Belarus published a letter (link in Russian) clarifying timelines for the different steps of the medical device registration process, inspections and expertise in Belarus.
- Changes in tax regulations for medical devices in Russia and Kazakhstan
On 19 January 2019, according to the law of the Republic of Kazakhstan №211, amendments to the tax code of Kazakhstan came into force, which exempted pharmaceutical products and medical devices from value added tax (VAT). In particular, medical devices, orthopaedic products and hearing equipment, as well as materials and components for their manufacture, are exempt from VAT according to the additionally approved list.
In parallel, on 17 January 2019, the Russian government published the draft regulation (list in Russian) on changes in the list of medical products (Resolution #1042) exempted from VAT. Compared to the current version, the new edition of the list is supplemented with multiple new medical devices classified with Russian OKPD-2 codes.
Medical Device Regulations in Russia and Eurasian Union 