by Giuliana Miglierini
The new process implemented by the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and HealthCare (EDQM) for the elaboration of documents related to the Certification of Suitability (CEP) procedure includes a newly inserted consultation phase. This new step, which may be public or targeted to specific groups of stakeholders, aims to increase the transparency of the elaboration process and offers stakeholders the possibility to forward comments to the draft documents in order to optimise them.
Transparency and efficiency are also the main goals inspiring the overall new elaboration process, which covers the entire pathway of CEP documents, from development, through consultation, up to final adoption, publication and implementation.
A dedicated page on the EDQMs’s website will host the documents open to consultation, together with the respective instructions for the stakeholders wishing to submit comments. Announcements on new documents available for consultation will be made on EDQM Certification webpages. The CEP Steering Committee will be responsible for the elaboration process for CEP documents, in compliance with the EDQM document CEP Terms of Reference and Rules of Procedure (PA/PH/CEP (01) 1).
The elaboration process will cover both public documents (the main part), as well as those the CEP Steering Committee would indicate as restricted for use by the bodies involved in the CEP procedure. The new process does not cover the Resolution on the Certification procedure, which falls under another specific process established by the Council of Europe.
A guidance to understand the new process
The management of CEP guidelines and operational documents for the CEP procedure has been described in a specific guidance issued in November 2022 by the EDQM’s Certification of Substances Department.
The guidance covers a broad range of documents participating from different perspectives to the CEP procedure. The elaboration of the different types of documents may slightly differ from one another, with possible exemptions from some steps, for example in the case of minor revisions (which in any case always have to be full justified and documented). All CEP documents will be drafted in English; the guidance provides indication of the format to be used to establish the unique reference code for governance documents and technical guidelines (PA/PH/CEP (XX) YY), as well as for the revision number (ZR) where needed.
The EDQM specifies that the implementation date of the newly approved CEP documents will be such to allow interested parties to have enough time to comply with the new or revised requirements.
Governance documents define procedural aspects for the practical implementation of the CEP procedure. The initial draft will be prepared by the EDQM and reviewed and agreed upon by the CEP Steering Committee before entering the consultation phase. Comments collected will serve as the basis to consolidate the final version of the document. A second round of consultation may be needed in case of critical comments preventing finalisation. The adoption of the final document falls under the responsibility of the CEP Steering Committee, which may also indicate the need to improve and re-submit the draft before adoption. Once the final version of the document is available, its publication on the EDQM’s website and implementation will close the process.
Technical guidelines inform about the requirements applicants should fulfil for the submission or evaluation of CEP applications. Their drafting may be initiated also by members of the relevant Technical Advisory Board (TAB), in addition to the EDQM. The TAB is also called to review and agree upon the draft document before the assessment and approval by the CEP Steering Committee and the following consultation phase can take place. The same applies to the consolidation of comments and finalisation of the document, that has to be approved by the relevant TAB. In this case too, a second round of consultation is possible should criticalities arise during the first one, followed by adoption by the CEP Steering Committee (and a possible second round of updating and approval by the TAB, if needed), and publication and implementation.
The management of specific aspects of the procedure can be supported by the issuing of administrative or operational documents. These documents fall under the responsibility of the EDQM, that may consult the CEP Steering Committee of other parties where necessary.
The consultation phase
A specific chapter of the EDQM’s guidance describes the newly inserted consultation phase, those details (type of process and duration) will be decided on a case-by-case basis by the CEP Steering Committee.
In the case of a public consultation, the draft document will be made available at the dedicated page of the EDQM website. The draft may also be sent to identified relevant stakeholder organisations, to ensure a better awareness of the ongoing process.
Targeted consultations aim to obtain feedback from selected stakeholders on specific areas of intervention. In such instances, the forwarding of the draft document will be restricted only to identified interested parties, including regulators and relevant industrial associations or other organisations.
According to the type of document and/or the topic under consultation, the consultation phase may vary in duration. To this instance, the guidance indicates a possible range between 3 weeks and 3 months, with the effective duration to be communicated as a part of the call for consultation. A template will also be available to submit comments, which should be always justified and contain concrete proposals for action to tackle the issue under consideration. All comments and justifications received will be transmitted to the groups in charge of approving and adopting the documents.
At the end of the elaboration process, the final approved versions of CEP documents will be published on the EDQM’s website.