Regulation (EU) 2017/746

Regulation 2017/746 is a regulation of the European Union on the placing on the market and putting into service of in vitro diagnostic medical devices, repealing Directive 98/79/EC, which also concerned IVD. The regulation was published in April 2017 and is closely aligned to the EU regulation on medical devices.
Changes compared to the IVDD include changes in device classification, stricter oversight of manufacturers by Notified Bodies, introduction of the "Person Responsible for Regulatory Compliance", the requirement of UDI marking for devices, common specifications, EUDAMED registration, and increased post-market surveillance activities.

Classification

The regulation introduces, in §47, the classification of IVD in the risk classes A, B, C, and D. There are seven classification rules that are given in Annex VIII. MDCG guidance 2020-16 provides clarification of the classification rules and gives classification examples. Only devices in the lowest risk class, class A, are excluded from the requirement of notified body oversight.

Transition

The provisions for the transition from IVDD to IVDR were changed by the EU commission with Regulation 2022/112 and Regulation 2023/607. Due to certain issues and delays, some changes to the transition timelines were implemented for both MDR and IVDR. Notably, the "sell-off" provision of legacy devices, covered by the IVDD, was removed.