Canada The Medical Devices Bureau of Health Canada has recognized four classes of medical devices based on the level of control necessary to assure the safety and effectiveness of the device.
United States
The Food and Drug Administration has recognized three classes of medical devices based on the level of control necessary to assure the safety and effectiveness of the device. The classification procedures are described in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 21, part 860 (usually known as 21 CFR 860).
Class I: General Controls
Class I devices present minimal potential for harm to the user and are often simpler in design than Class II or Class III devices. These devices are subject only to general controls. General controls cover such issues as manufacturer registration with the FDA, good manufacturing techniques, proper branding and labelling, notification of the FDA before marketing the device, and general reporting procedures. (Most Class I devices are exempt from the good manufacturing practices and/or the FDA notification regulations.) These controls are deemed sufficient to provide reasonable assurance of the safety and effectiveness of the device; or the device is not life-supporting or life-sustaining and does not present a reasonable source of injury through normal usage. Devices in this category include tongue depressors, bedpans, elastic bandages, examination gloves, and hand-held surgical instruments and other similar types of common equipment. Depending on the "stated/purported use" of a device, it may be necessary to obtain a Premarket Approval (510K) for the device, which is otherwise classifiable as a Class 1 device. Such devices are referred to as "reserved devices". The electrically powered arthroscope (which is really an endoscope powered electrically) is a case in point. While endoscopes are Class 1 devices (usually not needing a PMAvvvvvv), the electrically powered arthroscopes need PMA (510K) although the manual arthroscopes do not. by NIBIN JOHN,BIOMEDICAL ENGINEER
Class II: General Controls with Special Controls
Class II devices are those for which general controls alone are insufficient to assure safety and effectiveness, and additional existing methods are available to provide such assurances. Therefore, Class II devices are also subject to special controls in addition to the general controls of Class I devices. Special controls may include special labeling requirements, mandatory performance standards, and postmarket surveillance. Devices in Class II are held to a higher level of assurance than Class I devices that they will perform as indicated and will not cause injury or harm to patient or user. Devices in this class are typically non-invasive and include x-ray machines, PACS, powered wheelchairs, infusion pumps, surgical drapes, surgical needles and suture material, and acupuncture needles.
[edit] Class III: General Controls and Premarket Approval
A Class III device is one for which insufficient information exists to assure safety and effectiveness solely through the general or special controls sufficient for Class I or Class II devices. Such a device needs premarket approval, a scientific review to ensure the device's safety and effectiveness, in addition to the general controls of Class I. Class III devices are described as those for which "insufficient information exists to determine that general controls are sufficient to provide reasonable assurance of its safety and effectiveness or that application of special controls ... would provide such assurance and if, in addition, the device is life-supporting or life-sustaining, or for a use which is of substantial importance in preventing impairment of human health, or if the device presents a potential unreasonable risk of illness or injury."
Examples of Class III devices which require a premarket approval include replacement heart valves, silicone gel-filled breast implants, implanted cerebral stimulators, implantable pacemaker pulse generators and endosseous (intra-bone) implants (with the exception of root-form endosseous dental implants which were recently reclassified as Class II).
European Union (EU) and European Free Trade Association (EFTA)
The classification of medical devices in the European Union is outlined in Annex IX of the Council Directive 93/42/EEC. There are basically four classes, ranging from low risk to high risk.
Class I (including Is & Im)
Class IIa
Class IIb
Class III
The authorisation of medical devices is guaranteed by a Declaration of Conformity. This declaration is issued by the manufacturer itself, but for products in Class Is, Im, IIa, IIb or III, it should be backed by a Certificate of Conformity of so-called Notified Body, i.e. an organisation accredited to validate the compliance of the device to the European Directive. Medical devices that pertain to class I (on condition they do not need to be sterilised or are not used to measure a function) can be put on the market purely by self-certification.
The European classification depends on rules that involve the medical device's duration of body contact, its invasive character, its use of an energy source, its effect on the central circulation or nervous system, its diagnostic impact or its incorporation of a medicinal product.
Certified medical devices should have the CE mark on the packaging, insert leaflets, etc.. These packagings should also show harmonised pictograms and EN standardised logos to indicate essential features such as instructions for use, expiry date, manufacturer, sterile, don't reuse, etc...
