Guidance For The Preparation of Good Clinical Practice Inspection Reports
Guidance For The Preparation of Good Clinical Practice Inspection Reports
Consumer goods
Pharmaceuticals
GUIDANCE DOCUMENTS
CONTAINING THE COMMON PROVISIONS
ON THE CONDUCT OF GCP INSPECTIONS BY COMPETENT
AUTHORITIES OF THE DIFFERENT MEMBER STATES
This document forms part of the guidance documents containing the common provisions on the conduct
of GCP inspections. Please check for updates in the Volume 10 of the Rules Governing Medicinal
Products in the European Union.
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/pharmaceuticals/eudralex/vol10_en.htm
1 INTRODUCTION 3
3 REFERENCES 4
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1 INTRODUCTION
The scope of this document is to provide guidance for the preparation of GCP inspection reports
carried out by competent authorities of the different Member States, which may take place on any of
the following occasions:
The responsibilities set out in this guidance are outlined in the guidance for coordination/co-operation
with other organisations involved in assessing Good Clinical Practice requirements. This guidance to
preparing for the inspection report may be used in preparing for any type of inspection (see guidance
for the conduct of GCP inspections, including its annexes).
The IR should reflect the inspection procedures as described in the Eudralex Volume 10 ”Guidance for
the conduct of GCP inspections”. There should be an evaluation of the compliance with national and
applicable EU regulations, including Good Clinical Practice, and applicable ethical and scientific
standards. The validity and reliability of the data recorded/submitted should be evaluated in
accordance with the scope of the inspection. Any major or critical deviations should be addressed.
The IR should be printed on paper.
These items will be described in the IR and the deviations classified as minor, major and critical (see
appendix 1 for definitions). Each deviation or, at least critical and major findings, should quote a
reference to the applicable legal requirement, for which this non-compliance was identified.
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2.2 Preparing the IR
If the inspection is conducted by a team of inspectors, the Lead Inspector is responsible for the
preparation of the IR. The IR should be signed by all the participating inspectors/experts or just the
Lead Inspector, in accordance with national procedures. In the event of a joint inspection, the
agreement with the inspection report should be documented.
For inspections conducted by one inspector, the IR should, if possible, be reviewed by a colleague or a
superior as a quality check before being submitted to the inspectee(s), according to the MS
Inspectorate’s procedures.
The IR should be prepared and sent to the inspectee(s) within a specified time [e.g. 20 to 30 working
days] after the completion of the inspection.
The inspectors will consider the responses from the inspectee(s) and will indicate in writing (e.g. as an
appendix), whether or not these are acceptable and what impact, if any, they have on the original
inspection findings.
Responses to the inspection report may be recorded in other documents associated with the report.
The report is submitted to the Inspectee and/or the sponsor in accordance with local regulations and
the objectives of the inspection. The report can also be submitted, if needed, to the courts, or other
authorities where required e.g. in the case of an enforcement action.
During the registration process for a Marketing Authorisation, the report could be submitted to the
Marketing Authorisation applicant as well as to the sponsor, where these are different, according to the
national regulations.
3 REFERENCES
• Directive 2001/20/EC on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions
of the Member States relating to the implementation of good clinical practice in the conduct of
clinical trials on medicinal products for human use.
• Directive 2005/28/EC laying down principles and detailed guidelines for good clinical practice as
regards investigational medicinal products for human use, as well as the requirements for
authorisation of the manufacturing or importation of such product.
• Directive 2001/83/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 November 2001 on the
community code relating to medicinal products for human use, as amended.
• Regulation (EC) No 726/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004
laying down Community procedures for the authorisation and supervision of medicinal products
for human and veterinary use and establishing a European Medicines Agency.
• EUDRALEX Volume 10 - Clinical trials, of the Rules Governing Medicinal Products in the
European Union: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/pharmaceuticals/eudralex/vol10_en.htm
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APPENDIX 1: GRADINGS OF FINDINGS
1.Critical: Conditions, practices or processes that adversely affect the rights, safety or well being of
the subjects and/or the quality and integrity of data.
Critical observations are considered totally unacceptable.
Remark: Observations classified as critical may include a pattern of deviations classified as major, bad
quality of the data and/or absence of source documents. Fraud belongs to this group.
2. Major: Conditions, practices or processes that might adversely affect the rights, safety or well-
being of the subjects and/or the quality and integrity of data.
Major observations are serious deficiencies and are direct violations of GCP principles.
Remark: Observations classified as major, may include a pattern of deviations and/or numerous minor
observations.
3. Minor: Conditions, practices or processes that would not be expected to adversely affect the rights,
safety or well being of the subjects and/or the quality and integrity of data.
Possible consequences: Observations classified as minor, indicate the need for improvement of
conditions, practises and processes.
Remark: Many minor observations might indicate a bad quality and the sum might be equal to a major
finding with its consequences.
4. Comments: The observations might lead to suggestions on how to improve quality or reduce the
potential for a deviation to occur in the future.
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