National procedure

Applicants following the national procedure will be granted a marketing authorisation that is valid only in the Netherlands. It is granted by the MEB. The medicinal product to which the dossier relates can only be placed on the market in the Netherlands.

Criteria national procedure

Besides the granting of a marketing authorisation for the Dutch market, the national procedure can also serve as the first phase of a Mutual Recognition procedure if the Netherlands is going to act as the Reference Member State (RMS) in that procedure.

It is not always possible for applicants to follow the national procedure. In the case of medicinal products in the category for which the Centralised procedure is compulsory, that procedure must be followed. In addition, the national procedure is not available in the case of medicinal product dossiers where the same applicant has already obtained marketing authorisation in one of the other Member States of the EU/EEA or has already submitted an application for marketing authorisation in one of the other Member States of the EU/EEA and the application is under consideration. In the latter case, applicants must follow a mutual recognition procedure.

Application and assessment of a dossier

Applicants wishing to follow a national procedure must submit a marketing authorisation dossier to the MEB. The MEB will assess the risk/efficacy ratio of the medicinal product. The MEB has up to 210 days to reach a final decision. This period may be suspended to allow the company to answer questions. Companies can also give verbal explanations relating to the dossier they have submitted. If the decision is favourable, the Summary of Product Characteristics, the package leaflet and the label text (including layout) will be determined when the marketing authorisation is granted. Decisions to grant national marketing authorisations are recorded in a register of medicinal products.

Medicinal products that have been granted marketing authorisation via the national procedure must bear the national marketing authorisation number, which starts with "RVG", on their labelling.

The requirements governing the marketing authorisation dossiers to be submitted in the context of applications under national Procedures vary according to the type of procedure. The national Procedure is divided into applications for:

National marketing authorisation timeslot application

To request a timeslot for a national marketing authorisation application or national line-extension application (with the exception of duplex marketing authorisations) you can use the Planning tool to support application for timeslots. The planning tool shows how many timeslots are available per month and for which department.

After opening the planning tool, you can select a timeslot of your choice; a digital form will appear. You can then attach the completed and signed Request for timeslot for national MA Application and enter your contact details.

To know to which department your request should be sent to, you can consult the organisational structure overview.

After submission you will receive a confirmation of receipt via e-mail. The MEB will inform you within three weeks following submission, whether the timeslot is assigned or not.

At the time of submitting the national marketing authorisation application the product an RVG number will be allocated.