Author: Dr. Suzanne Broussard | September 28, 2020
Medical device manufacturers received clarification on how the European Commission’s Medical Device Coordination Group (MDCG) will allow Notified Bodies (NBs) to use Medical Device Single Audit Program (MDSAP) audit reports. The punch line of the MDCG 20-14 guidance document published in August 2020 is that NBs can possibly “take into account the scope and outputs of manufacturers’ recent MDSAP audit reports as an input for developing surveillance audit programs.”
MDCG stresses that the Medical Device Regulations (MDR) and In Vitro Device Regulations (IVDR) remain applicable in their entirety. Surveillance audits are mandated by law, as is their frequency, and the EU auditor’s competencies. Therefore, the “use of MDSAP audit reports is possible only where MDSAP audits covers similar of equivalent MDR/IVDR requirements.”
Canada mandates the use of MDSAP audits, and 4 other countries allow their use.
The MDCG 20-14 guidance now allows NBs in the European Union to take into account the manufacturers’ recent MDSAP audit reports’ scope and outputs as input for developing the surveillance audit program that defines more precisely the manner of the surveillance audit. Several examples are provided in which conformity of a positive quality management system through MDSAP might lead to a reduction of aspects already covered by MDSAP audit reports.
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