Does a medical device nomenclature suitable for all purposes exist? Twenty years of Italian experience with the CND and its adoption in EUDAMED at European level

There are many purposes for using a nomenclature of medical devices. The Italian CND is a free public available nomenclature, arises from a comparison with existing nomenclatures and is structured to allow a connection with other systems. Since 2007 the CND is used, in the Italian database, for regulatory affairs in order to register and classify homogeneously medical devices from a technical and economics point of view; in 2019 the CND has been adopted from European Commission as official nomenclature. It is not possible to think that a nomenclature can meet all needs. Owever, it is possible to guarantee the interoperability of different classification systems by adopting a single hierarchical nomenclature as a common basis from which to develop different "subclassifications" for different purposes. Aim of this paper is to present the Italian experience in the development of the national medical device nomenclature and its extension to the European level.