Issued by the department of finance! It is prohibited to purchase imported medical equipment without approval

On September 29, the Ningxia Finance Department issued the Notice on Optimizing the Procurement Management of Imported Products in the Autonomous Region (hereinafter referred to as the Notice).

The Notice makes it clear that the government will further strengthen the supervision over the purchase of imported products, establish an early warning and monitoring mechanism for the purchase of imported products, and conduct early warning and monitoring over the procurement application items, application reasons, purchase prices, and the legality and compliance of the items reviewed by the competent budgeting units.

In fact, this is not the first time that Ningxia has issued a document to “standardize” the procurement of imported products. In July this year, the Ningxia Department of Finance issued a clear statement: in 2022, it is necessary to strictly standardize the internal audit mechanism of government procurement of imported medical equipment.

There is no doubt that after Anhui, another province will “support domestic medical equipment” to the end!

In addition to 4 cases, domestic preference

According to the Notice, the Department of Finance further clarified the approval of the province’s purchase of imported products, including imported medical equipment purchased by medical institutions.

The Notice points out that the purchasers must meet the following four categories of circumstances (except the special circumstances of filing and non- approval) before they can purchase imported products, otherwise, according to the national procurement policy, they need to give priority to purchasing domestic products.

 Specifically:

1. The products that the purchaser needs to purchase cannot be obtained in China or cannot be obtained under reasonable commercial conditions

2. Purchasing for use outside China

3. There are domestic similar products in China， but they cannot meet the actual demand;

4. It is necessary to purchase imported products according to laws and regulations.

In terms of the demonstration management of the purchase of imported products, the Notice proposes that the imported products to be purchased by the purchaser belong to the products that are explicitly restricted by national laws, regulations and policies and other imported products, and experts should be organized to demonstrate the necessity of the imported products to be purchased.

The reasons for applying for purchase of imported products shall include purchase demand, technical indicators and performance description of imported products and similar domestic products, and comparison of technical indicators and performance between imported products and domestic products.

It is prohibited to purchase and import without approval

Procurement activities that are reported to the financial department for approval after the organization of procurement activities begins shall bear corresponding legal liabilities according to unauthorized procurement of imported products.

Procurement activities that are reported to the financial department for approval after the organization of procurement activities begins shall bear the corresponding legal liability according to the unauthorized procurement of imported products.

 Further restrict 137 kinds of medical devices, all of which must be purchased domestically

To a certain extent, the centralized audit system scientifically controls the tendency of medical institutions to blindly purchase imports. In addition to the Notice issued this time, there is no doubt that the purchase of imported medical equipment in this region will be unprecedented “clear” in the future. What can be purchased and imported? Which must be purchased domestically? Every hospital should know well.

In fact, since the notification of the Guiding Standards for the Audit of Imported Products Purchased by the Government (2021) jointly issued by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in 2021 has flowed out, provinces have been increasing their support for domestic products.

On the premise that all 137 kinds of medical devices are required to be 100% domestic, Anhui, Shenzhen, Shanxi, etc. successively issued notices, emphasizing that the government should purchase domestic products when purchasing.

NMPA is encouraging China end uses for more domestic products in latest years. Thus, more and more overseas manufacturers are planning localization in China. BradyKnows localization team has extensive experiences in facility establishment, audit, supplier evaluation, manufacturing, registration, and marketing in China. Pls feel free to let us know any questions on China entry via info@bradyknowsmedical.com

By | Alliance of Medical Device Distributors

Translated & edited | Bradyknows