The initiative, proposed by the BDIA, saw a letter addressed to the European Chief Negotiator for Brexit, Michel Barnier and the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, David Davis, highlighting the important economic and public health role played by the dental technology and devices sector, and calling for action to be taken to safeguard it.
BDIA Chief Executive, Edmund Proffitt, comments, “The measures outlined by our associations would ensure that our industry is able to continue to provide access to innovative dental technology in the UK and throughout the EU, to the benefit of patient oral health and the economy, beyond the UK’s exit from the EU in March 2019.”
Chief amongst these measures is a commitment to parity of UK and EU legislation after Brexit. The UK’s decision to leave the European Union came at a critical point for the dental industry, coinciding with the publication of the EU Medical Device Regulations (MDR), and future divergence in legislation would risk disadvantaging both patients and businesses across Europe.
The letter states, “In the UK, the dental industry employs around 8,000 people in over 300 companies. The industry generates a turnover of €490 mil annually and supports the treatment of over 15 million UK patients every year. This represents one of the leading markets in Europe, where the industry has a total annual turnover of around €6.7 bil, average annual growth of 2.7 per cent for the past five years and employs about 45,000 people in 550 companies.
“The dental industry and the EU and UK citizens it serves have benefitted greatly from the European Single Market and a consistent, shared regulatory environment. EU-wide medical device legislation, which provides market authorisation via CE marking, has facilitated delivery of high quality care to patients for over 25 years, enabling timely access to safe, effective and innovative dental technologies.”
Other priorities to ensure a successful outcome to the negotiations include the maintenance of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s involvement in ongoing discussions concerning medical device regulation, the continued adoption of the CE marking process for medical devices and allowing UK Notified Bodies to operate under the MDR.