FDA Recognized Consensus Standards

FDA Recognized Consensus Standards database includes standards recognized by FDA and used to make an appropriate decision regarding the clearance or approval of a submission.
Information submitted on conformance with such standards will have a direct bearing on safety and effectiveness determinations made during the review of IDEs, HDEs, PMAs, and PDPs. Conformance with recognized consensus standards in and of itself, however, may not always be a sufficient basis for regulatory decisions.

Many domestic and international consensus standards address aspects of safety and/or effectiveness relevant to medical devices. Many of these standards have been developed with the participation of Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) staff.
CDRH believes that conformance with recognized consensus standards can support a reasonable assurance of safety and/or effectiveness for many applicable aspects of medical devices. Therefore, information submitted on conformance with such standards should have a direct bearing on safety and effectiveness determinations made during the review of investigational device exemption (IDEs), Humanitarian Device Exemption (HDEs), Premarket approval (PMAs), and Product Development Protocol (PDPs). In 510(k)s, information on conformance with recognized consensus standards may help establish the substantial equivalence of a new device to a legally marketed predicate device.
These information may be used to show that the new device is as safe and effective as the predicate in the areas covered by the standards.

Conformance with recognized consensus standards may not always be a sufficient basis for regulatory decisions. For example, a specific device may raise a safety or effectiveness issue not addressed by any recognized consensus standard, or a specific FDA regulation may require additional information beyond what conformity to the recognized consensus standards provides. Under such circumstances, conformity with recognized standards will not satisfy all requirements for marketing, or investigating, the product in the United States.