2020-08461. Nonbinding Feedback After Certain Food and Drug Administration Inspections of Device Establishments; Guidance for Industry and Food and Drug Administration Staff; Availability

AGENCY:

Food and Drug Administration, HHS.

ACTION:

Notice of availability.

SUMMARY:

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or Agency) is announcing the availability of a final guidance entitled “Nonbinding Feedback After Certain FDA Inspections of Device Establishments.” FDA is issuing this guidance to comply with the FDA Reauthorization Act of 2017 (FDARA), which amended the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act). This guidance identifies a standardized method for communicating and submitting requests for nonbinding feedback and describes how FDA evaluates and responds to such requests.

DATES:

The announcement of the guidance is published in the Federal Register on April 22, 2020.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit either electronic or written comments on Agency guidances at any time as follows:

Electronic Submissions

Submit electronic comments in the following way:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments. Comments submitted electronically, including attachments, to https://www.regulations.gov will be posted to the docket unchanged. Because your comment will be made public, you are solely responsible for ensuring that your comment does not include any confidential information that you or a third party may not wish to be posted, such as medical information, your or anyone else's Social Security number, or confidential business information, such as a manufacturing process. Please note that if you include your name, contact information, or other information that identifies you in the body of your comments, that information will be posted on https://www.regulations.gov.
• If you want to submit a comment with confidential information that you do not wish to be made available to the public, submit the comment as a written/paper submission and in the manner detailed (see “Written/Paper Submissions” and “Instructions”).

Written/Paper Submissions

Submit written/paper submissions as follows:

• Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier (for written/paper submissions): Dockets Management Staff (HFA-305), Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.
• For written/paper comments submitted to the Dockets Management Staff, FDA will post your comment, as well as any attachments, except for information submitted, marked and identified, as confidential, if submitted as detailed in “Instructions.”

Instructions: All submissions received must include the Docket No. FDA-2018-D-4711 for “Nonbinding Feedback After Certain FDA Inspections of Device Establishments.” Received comments will be placed in the docket and, except for those submitted as “Confidential Submissions,” publicly viewable at https://www.regulations.gov or at the Dockets Management Staff between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

• Confidential Submissions—To submit a comment with confidential information that you do not wish to be made publicly available, submit your comments only as a written/paper submission. You should submit two copies total. One copy will include the information you claim to be confidential with a heading or cover note that states “THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.” The Agency will review this copy, including the claimed confidential information, in its consideration of comments. The second copy, which will have the claimed confidential information redacted/blacked out, will be available for public viewing and posted on https://www.regulations.gov. Submit both copies to the Dockets Management Staff. If you do not wish your name and contact information to be made publicly available, you can provide this information on the cover sheet and not in the body of your comments and you must identify this information as “confidential.” Any information marked as “confidential” will not be disclosed except in accordance with 21 CFR 10.20 and other applicable disclosure law. For more information about FDA's posting of comments to public dockets, see 80 FR 56469, September 18, 2015, or access the information at: https://www.govinfo.gov/​content/​pkg/​FR-2015-09-18/​pdf/​2015-23389.pdf.

Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or the electronic and written/paper comments received, go to https://www.regulations.gov and insert the docket number, found in brackets in the heading of this document, into the “Search” box and follow the prompts and/or go to the Dockets Management Staff, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.

You may submit comments on any guidance at any time (see 21 CFR 10.115(g)(5)).

An electronic copy of the guidance document is available for download from the internet. See the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for information on electronic access to the guidance. Submit written requests for a single hard copy of the guidance document entitled “Nonbinding Feedback After Certain FDA Inspections of Device Establishments” to the Office of Policy, Guidance and Policy Development, Center for Devices and Radiological Health, Food and Drug Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 66, Rm. 5431, Silver Spring, MD 20993-0002. Send one self-addressed adhesive label to assist that office in processing your request.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Patrick Weixel, Center for Devices and Radiological Health, Food and Drug Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 66, Rm. 1535, Silver Spring, MD 20993-0002, 301-796-5537 or Stephen Ripley, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 71, Rm. 7301, Silver Spring, MD 20993, 240-402-7911.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

FDA is issuing this guidance to comply with section 702 of FDARA (Pub. L. 115-52), which amended section 704 of the FD&C Act (21 U.S.C. 374). The purpose of this guidance is to explain how the owner, operator, or agent in charge of a device establishment may submit a request for nonbinding feedback to FDA regarding actions the firm has proposed to take to address certain kinds of inspectional observations that have been documented on an FDA Inspectional Observations Form (Form FDA 483) and issued to the firm upon completion of an inspection of the firm's establishment. This guidance identifies a standardized method for communicating and submitting requests for nonbinding feedback and describes how FDA evaluates and responds to such requests.

FDA considered comments received on the draft guidance that appeared in the Federal Register of February 19, 2019 (84 FR 4823). FDA revised the guidance as appropriate in response to the comments, including clarifying that if a request for nonbinding feedback does not meet the statutory criteria, FDA may choose to respond to these requests through an alternate mechanism (e.g., written correspondence, teleconference, face-to-face meeting) at its discretion.

II. Significance of Guidance

This guidance is being issued consistent with FDA's good guidance practices regulation (21 CFR 10.115). The guidance represents the current thinking of FDA on “Nonbinding Feedback After Certain FDA Inspections of Device Establishments.” It does not establish any rights for any person and is not binding on FDA or the public. You can use an alternative approach if it satisfies the requirements of the applicable statutes and regulations.

III. Electronic Access

Persons interested in obtaining a copy of the guidance may do so by downloading an electronic copy from the internet. A search capability for all Center for Devices and Radiological Health guidance documents is available at https://www.fda.gov/​MedicalDevices/​DeviceRegulationandGuidance/​GuidanceDocuments/​default.htm. This guidance document is also available at https://www.regulations.gov or https://www.fda.gov/​vaccines-blood-biologics/​guidance-compliance-regulatory-information-biologics/​biologics-guidances. Persons unable to download an electronic copy of “Nonbinding Feedback After Certain FDA Inspections of Device Establishments” may send an email request to [e-mail] to receive an electronic copy of the document. Please use the document number 17047 to identify the guidance you are requesting.

IV. Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

This guidance refers to previously approved collections of information. These collections of information are subject to review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-3521). The collections of information in the following FDA guidance have been approved by OMB as listed in the following table:

21 CFR guidance	Topic	OMB control No.
“Nonbinding Feedback After Certain FDA Inspections of Device Establishments”	Nonbinding Feedback	0910-0886

Dated: April 16, 2020.

Lowell J. Schiller,

Principal Associate Commissioner for Policy.