IEC 62304 – medical device software – software life cycle processes is an international standard published by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). The standard specifies life cycle requirements for the development of medical software and software within medical devices. It has been adopted as national standards and therefore can be used as a benchmark to comply with regulatory requirements.

Implications of IEC 62304 for software

The IEC 62304 standard calls out certain cautions on using software, particularly SOUP (software of unknown pedigree or provenance). The standard spells out a risk-based decision model on when the use of SOUP is acceptable, and defines testing requirements for SOUP to support a rationale on why such software should be used.

Contents

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General requirements

Software development process

Effect of safety classification on required development process documentation

Software maintenance process

Software risk management process

Software configuration management process

Software problem resolution process