Regulation (EU) No 536/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on clinical trials on medicinal products for human use, and repealing Directive 2001/20/EC Text with EEA relevance

CHAPTER I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1

Scope

This Regulation applies to all clinical trials conducted in the Union.

It does not apply to non-interventional studies.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions also apply:

(1) ‘Clinical study’ means any investigation in relation to humans intended: (a) to discover or verify the clinical, pharmacological or other pharmacodynamic effects of one or more medicinal products; (b) to identify any adverse reactions to one or more medicinal products; or (c) to study the absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion of one or more medicinal products; with the objective of ascertaining the safety and/or efficacy of those medicinal products;

(2) ‘Clinical trial’ means a clinical study which fulfils any of the following conditions: (a) the assignment of the subject to a particular therapeutic strategy is decided in advance and does not fall within normal clinical practice of the Member State concerned; (b) the decision to prescribe the investigational medicinal products is taken together with the decision to include the subject in the clinical study; or (c) diagnostic or monitoring procedures in addition to normal clinical practice are applied to the subjects.

(3) ‘Low-intervention clinical trial’ means a clinical trial which fulfils all of the following conditions: (a) the investigational medicinal products, excluding placebos, are authorised; (b) according to the protocol of the clinical trial, (i) the investigational medicinal products are used in accordance with the terms of the marketing authorisation; or (ii) the use of the investigational medicinal products is evidence-based and supported by published scientific evidence on the safety and efficacy of those investigational medicinal products in any of the Member States concerned; and (c) the additional diagnostic or monitoring procedures do not pose more than minimal additional risk or burden to the safety of the subjects compared to normal clinical practice in any Member State concerned;

(4) ‘Non-interventional study’ means a clinical study other than a clinical trial;

(5) ‘Investigational medicinal product’ means a medicinal product which is being tested or used as a reference, including as a placebo, in a clinical trial;

(6) ‘Normal clinical practice’ means the treatment regime typically followed to treat, prevent, or diagnose a disease or a disorder;

(7) ‘Advanced therapy investigational medicinal product’ means an investigational medicinal product which is an advanced therapy medicinal product as defined in point (a) of Article 2(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1394/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council (¹);

(8) ‘Auxiliary medicinal product’ means a medicinal product used for the needs of a clinical trial as described in the protocol, but not as an investigational medicinal product;

(9) ‘Authorised investigational medicinal product’ means a medicinal product authorised in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 726/2004 or in any Member State concerned in accordance with Directive 2001/83/EC, irrespective of changes to the labelling of the medicinal product, which is used as an investigational medicinal product;

(10) ‘Authorised auxiliary medicinal product’ means a medicinal product authorised in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 726/2004, or in any Member State concerned in accordance with Directive 2001/83/EC, irrespective of changes to the labelling of the medicinal product, which is used as an auxiliary medicinal product;

(11) ‘Ethics committee’ means an independent body established in a Member State in accordance with the law of that Member State and empowered to give opinions for the purposes of this Regulation, taking into account the views of laypersons, in particular patients or patients' organisations;

(12) ‘Member State concerned’ means the Member State where an application for authorisation of a clinical trial or of a substantial modification has been submitted under Chapters II or III of this Regulation respectively;

(13) ‘Substantial modification’ means any change to any aspect of the clinical trial which is made after notification of a decision referred to in Articles 8, 14, 19, 20 or 23 and which is likely to have a substantial impact on the safety or rights of the subjects or on the reliability and robustness of the data generated in the clinical trial;

(14) ‘Sponsor’ means an individual, company, institution or organisation which takes responsibility for the initiation, for the management and for setting up the financing of the clinical trial;

(15) ‘Investigator’ means an individual responsible for the conduct of a clinical trial at a clinical trial site;

(16) ‘Principal investigator’ means an investigator who is the responsible leader of a team of investigators who conduct a clinical trial at a clinical trial site;

(17) ‘Subject’ means an individual who participates in a clinical trial, either as recipient of an investigational medicinal product or as a control;

(18) ‘Minor’ means a subject who is, according to the law of the Member State concerned, under the age of legal competence to give informed consent;

(19) ‘Incapacitated subject’ means a subject who is, for reasons other than the age of legal competence to give informed consent, incapable of giving informed consent according to the law of the Member State concerned;

(20) ‘Legally designated representative’ means a natural or legal person, authority or body which, according to the law of the Member State concerned, is empowered to give informed consent on behalf of a subject who is an incapacitated subject or a minor;

(21) ‘Informed consent’ means a subject's free and voluntary expression of his or her willingness to participate in a particular clinical trial, after having been informed of all aspects of the clinical trial that are relevant to the subject's decision to participate or, in case of minors and of incapacitated subjects, an authorisation or agreement from their legally designated representative to include them in the clinical trial;

(22) ‘Protocol’ means a document that describes the objectives, design, methodology, statistical considerations and organisation of a clinical trial. The term ‘protocol’ encompasses successive versions of the protocol and protocol modifications;

(23) ‘Investigator's brochure’ means a compilation of the clinical and non-clinical data on the investigational medicinal product or products which are relevant to the study of the product or products in humans;

(24) ‘Manufacturing’ means total and partial manufacture, as well as the various processes of dividing up, packaging and labelling (including blinding);

(25) ‘Start of a clinical trial’ means the first act of recruitment of a potential subject for a specific clinical trial, unless defined differently in the protocol;

(26) ‘End of a clinical trial’ means the last visit of the last subject, or at a later point in time as defined in the protocol;

(27) ‘Early termination of a clinical trial’ means the premature end of a clinical trial due to any reason before the conditions specified in the protocol are complied with;

(28) ‘Temporary halt of a clinical trial’ means an interruption not provided in the protocol of the conduct of a clinical trial by the sponsor with the intention of the sponsor to resume it;

(29) ‘Suspension of a clinical trial’ means interruption of the conduct of a clinical trial by a Member State;

(30) ‘Good clinical practice’ means a set of detailed ethical and scientific quality requirements for designing, conducting, performing, monitoring, auditing, recording, analysing and reporting clinical trials ensuring that the rights, safety and well-being of subjects are protected, and that the data generated in the clinical trial are reliable and robust;

(31) ‘Inspection’ means the act by a competent authority of conducting an official review of documents, facilities, records, quality assurance arrangements, and any other resources that are deemed by the competent authority to be related to the clinical trial and that may be located at the clinical trial site, at the sponsor's and/or contract research organisation's facilities, or at other establishments which the competent authority sees fit to inspect;

(32) ‘Adverse event’ means any untoward medical occurrence in a subject to whom a medicinal product is administered and which does not necessarily have a causal relationship with this treatment;

(33) ‘Serious adverse event’ means any untoward medical occurrence that at any dose requires inpatient hospitalisation or prolongation of existing hospitalisation, results in persistent or significant disability or incapacity, results in a congenital anomaly or birth defect, is life-threatening, or results in death;

(34) ‘Unexpected serious adverse reaction’ means a serious adverse reaction, the nature, severity or outcome of which is not consistent with the reference safety information;

(35) ‘Clinical study report’ means a report on the clinical trial presented in an easily searchable format, prepared in accordance with Annex I, Part I, Module 5 of Directive 2001/83/EC and accompanying an application for marketing authorisation.

Article 3

General principle

A clinical trial may be conducted only if:

(a) the rights, safety, dignity and well-being of subjects are protected and prevail over all other interests; and

(b) it is designed to generate reliable and robust data.

CHAPTER II

AUTHORISATION PROCEDURE FOR A CLINICAL TRIAL

Article 4

Prior authorisation

A clinical trial shall be subject to scientific and ethical review and shall be authorised in accordance with this Regulation.

The ethical review shall be performed by an ethics committee in accordance with the law of the Member State concerned. The review by the ethics committee may encompass aspects addressed in Part I of the assessment report for the authorisation of a clinical trial as referred to in Article 6 and in Part II of that assessment report as referred to in Article 7 as appropriate for each Member State concerned.

Member States shall ensure that the timelines and procedures for the review by the ethics committees are compatible with the timelines and procedures set out in this Regulation for the assessment of the application for authorisation of a clinical trial.

Article 5

Submission of an application

The sponsor shall propose one of the Member States concerned as reporting Member State.

If a Member State concerned other than the proposed reporting Member State is willing to be the reporting Member State or where the proposed reporting Member State does not wish to be the reporting Member State, this shall be notified through the EU portal to all Member States concerned not later than three days after the application dossier is submitted.

If only one Member State concerned is willing to be the reporting Member State or if the clinical trial involves only one Member State, that Member State shall be the reporting Member State.

If there is no Member State concerned willing to be the reporting Member State or if there is more than one Member State concerned willing to be the reporting Member State, the reporting Member State shall be selected by agreement among the Member States concerned taking into account the recommendations referred to in point (c) of Article 85(2).

If there is no agreement among the Member States concerned, the proposed reporting Member State shall be the reporting Member State.

The reporting Member State shall notify the sponsor and the other Member States concerned that it is the reporting Member State, through the EU portal, within six days from the submission of the application dossier.

Within 10 days from the submission of the application dossier, the reporting Member State shall validate the application taking into account considerations expressed by the other Member States concerned and notify the sponsor, through the EU portal, of the following:

(a) whether the clinical trial applied for falls within the scope of this Regulation;

(b) whether the application dossier is complete in accordance with Annex I;

Member States concerned may communicate to the reporting Member State any considerations relevant to the validation of the application within seven days from the submission of the application dossier.

Within five days from receipt of the comments or the completed application dossier, the reporting Member State shall notify the sponsor as to whether or not the application complies with the requirements set out in points (a) and (b) of the first subparagraph of paragraph 3.

Where the reporting Member State has not notified the sponsor within the period referred to in the second subparagraph, the clinical trial applied for shall be deemed to fall within the scope of this Regulation and the application dossier shall be considered complete.

Where the sponsor has not provided comments or completed the application dossier within the period referred to in the first subparagraph, the application shall be deemed to have lapsed in all Member States concerned.

Article 6

Assessment report — Aspects covered by Part I

The reporting Member State shall assess the application with regard to the following aspects:

(a) Whether the clinical trial is a low-intervention clinical trial, where claimed by the sponsor;

(b) Compliance with Chapter V with respect to the following: (i) The anticipated therapeutic and public health benefits taking account of all of the following: — the characteristics of and knowledge about the investigational medicinal products; — the relevance of the clinical trial, including whether the groups of subjects participating in the clinical trial represent the population to be treated, or if not, the explanation and justification provided in accordance with point (y) of paragraph 17 of Annex I to this Regulation; the current state of scientific knowledge; whether the clinical trial has been recommended or imposed by regulatory authorities in charge of the assessment and authorisation of the placing on the market of medicinal products; and, where applicable, any opinion formulated by the Paediatric Committee on a paediatric investigation plan in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1901/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council (²); — the reliability and robustness of the data generated in the clinical trial, taking account of statistical approaches, design of the clinical trial and methodology, including sample size and randomisation, comparator and endpoints; (ii) The risks and inconveniences for the subject, taking account of all of the following: — the characteristics of and knowledge about the investigational medicinal products and the auxiliary medicinal products; — the characteristics of the intervention compared to normal clinical practice; — the safety measures, including provisions for risk minimisation measures, monitoring, safety reporting, and the safety plan; — the risk to subject health posed by the medical condition for which the investigational medicinal product is being investigated;

(c) Compliance with the requirements concerning the manufacturing and import of investigational medicinal products and auxiliary medicinal products set out in Chapter IX;

(d) Compliance with the labelling requirements set out in Chapter X;

(e) The completeness and adequateness of the investigator's brochure.

The assessment report shall contain one of the following conclusions concerning the aspects addressed in Part I of the assessment report:

(a) the conduct of the clinical trial is acceptable in view of the requirements set out in this Regulation;

(b) the conduct of the clinical trial is acceptable in view of the requirements set out in this Regulation, but subject to compliance with specific conditions which shall be specifically listed in that conclusion; or

(c) the conduct of the clinical trial is not acceptable in view of the requirements set out in this Regulation.

For clinical trials involving more than one Member State, the assessment process shall include three phases:

(a) an initial assessment phase performed by the reporting Member State within 26 days from the validation date;

(b) a coordinated review phase performed within 12 days from the end of the initial assessment phase involving all Member States concerned;

(c) a consolidation phase performed by the reporting Member State within seven days from the end of coordinated review phase.

During the initial assessment phase, the reporting Member State shall develop a draft Part I of the assessment report and circulate it to all other Member States concerned.

During the coordinated review phase, all Member States concerned shall jointly review the application based on the draft Part I of the assessment report and shall share any considerations relevant to the application.

During the consolidation phase, the reporting Member State shall take due account of the considerations of the other Member States concerned when finalising Part I of the assessment report and shall record how all such considerations have been dealt with. The reporting Member State shall submit the final Part I of the assessment report to the sponsor and all other Member States concerned within the period referred to in paragraph 4.

For the purpose of obtaining and reviewing this additional information from the sponsor in accordance with the third and fourth subparagraph, the reporting Member State may extend the period referred to in paragraph 4 by a maximum of 31 days.

The sponsor shall submit the requested additional information within the period set by the reporting Member State which shall not exceed 12 days from the receipt of the request.

Upon receipt of the additional information, the Member States concerned shall jointly review any additional information provided by the sponsor together with the original application and shall share any considerations relevant to the application. The coordinated review shall be performed within a maximum of 12 days of the receipt of the additional information and the further consolidation shall be performed within a maximum of seven days of the end of coordinated review. When finalising Part I of the assessment report, the reporting Member State shall take due account of the considerations of the Member States concerned and shall record how all such considerations have been dealt with.

Where the sponsor does not provide additional information within the period set by the reporting Member State in accordance with the third subparagraph, the application shall be deemed to have lapsed in all Member States concerned.

The request for additional information and the additional information shall be submitted through the EU portal.

Article 7

Assessment report — Aspects covered by Part II

Each Member State concerned shall assess, for its own territory, the application with respect to the following aspects:

(a) compliance with the requirements for informed consent as set out in Chapter V;

(b) compliance of the arrangements for rewarding or compensating subjects with the requirements set out in Chapter V and investigators;

(c) compliance of the arrangements for recruitment of subjects with the requirements set out in Chapter V;