20.6.2012 Official Journal of the European Union L 159/5 COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) No 520/2012 of 19 June 2012 on the performance of pharmacovigilance activities provided for in Regulation (EC) No 726/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Directive 2001/83/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (Text with EEA relevance) THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 726/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 laying down Community procedures for the authorisation and supervision of medicinal products for human and veterinary use and estab- lishing a European Medicines Agency ('), and in particular Article 87a thereof, Having regard to Directive 2001/83/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 November 2001 on the Community code relating to medicinal products for human use (3), and in particular Article 108 thereof, Whereas: 1 Regulation (EU) No 1235/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 2010 amending, as regards pharmacovigilance of medicinal products for human use, Regulation (EC) No 726/2004 laying down Community procedures for the authori- sation and supervision of medicinal products for human and veterinary use and establishing a European Medicines Agency, and Regulation (EC) No 1394/2007 on advanced therapy medicinal products (%) strengthened and rationalised the monitoring of the safety of medicines that have been placed on the market in the Union. Similar provisions were introduced by Directive 2010/84/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 2010 amending, as regards pharmacovigilance, Directive 2001/83/EC on the Community code relating to medicinal products for human use (*) into Directive 2001/83/EC. Pharmacovigilance activities cover the whole life-cycle management of medicinal products for human use in relation to safety. Regulation (EU) No 1235/2010 and Directive 2010/84/EU introduced the concept of the pharmaco- vigilance system master file. In order to accurately reflect the pharmacovigilance system used by the 136, 30.4.2004, p. 1. 311, 28.11.2001, p. 67. 348, 31.12.2010, p. 1. L L L L 348, 31.12.2010, p. 74. marketing authorisation holder, the pharmacovigilance system master file should contain key information and documents covering all aspects of pharmacovigilance activities, including information on tasks that have been subcontracted. It should contribute to the appropriate planning and conduct of audits by the marketing auth- orisation holder and the supervision of pharmaco- vigilance activities by the qualified person responsible for pharmacovigilance. At the same time it should enable national competent authorities to verify compliance concerning all aspects of the system. The information contained in the pharmacovigilance system master file should be maintained so as to reflect any modifications that have been made and ensure easy accessibility and availability by national competent auth- orities for the purpose of inspections. Quality systems should form an integral part of the phar- macovigilance system. The minimum requirements for the quality system for the performance of pharmaco- vigilance activities should ensure that marketing authori- sation holders, national competent authorities and the European Medicines Agency (hereinafter ‘the Agency) establish an adequate and effective quality system, which provides for an effective monitoring of compliance and the accurate and proper documentation of all measures taken. They should also ensure that marketing authorisation holders, national competent authorities and the Agency have at their disposal sufficient competent, appropriately qualified and trained staff. Adherence to a well-defined quality system should ensure that all pharmacovigilance activities are conducted in such a way that they are likely to produce the desired results or quality objectives for the fulfilment of phar- macovigilance tasks. As part of their quality system, national competent auth- orities and the Agency should establish contact points to facilitate interaction between national competent auth- orities, the Agency, the Commission, marketing authori- sation holders and persons reporting information on the risks of medicinal products, as referred to in the second subparagraph of Article 101(1) of Directive 2001/83/EC. If marketing authorisation holders, national competent authorities and the Agency use performance indicators to monitor the good performance of pharmacovigilance activities, those indicators should be documented.