FLASH LIFE SCIENCE – Renewal of the Cooperation Protocol between the ANSM and the DGCCRF

On January 27, 2026, the ANSM and the DGCCRF signed a new cooperation protocol aimed at strengthening the protection of health, safety, and consumers.

The main objectives are:

• Information sharing
• Coordinated scheduling of inspections
• Joint inspections
• Analytical complementarity
• Improved monitoring of reports
• Training of agents

While the ANSM is primarily responsible for ensuring the safety of medicines, medical devices, and other health products listed in Article L. 5311-1 of the Public Health Code throughout their lifecycle, the DGCCRF, the authority responsible for ensuring the proper functioning of the market, compliance with consumer law, and competition law, is also involved in monitoring these products.The protocol clarifies the areas of joint or individual intervention of the two authorities.

In particular, with regard to medical devices, the ANSM (French National Agency for Medicines and Health Products Safety) has general jurisdiction in principle, but the DGCCRF (French Directorate General for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control) is also called upon to intervene when these products are intended for direct use by a consumer or professional, excluding healthcare professionals. Producers and distributors of these products must therefore be vigilant regarding the monitoring actions initiated by each of these authorities.

This cooperation thus makes it possible to address the practical problem posed by products whose classification is uncertain, that is to say, products that fall on the borderline between health products and everyday consumer goods: the protocol provides for the transfer of information and requests for classification to the other authority, according to their respective jurisdictions.

This complementarity stems from the specific expertise of each:

• The ANSM (French National Agency for Medicines and Health Products Safety) does not have the same extensive economic control network as the DGCCRF (French Directorate General for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control), while the latter is not tasked with providing in-depth medical expertise.
• This cooperation therefore aims to combine scientific knowledge and regulatory power for optimal effectiveness.

Furthermore, the draft designation of the competent authorities for the implementation of the European regulation on artificial intelligence, published on September 9, 2025, designates the DGCCRF as responsible for monitoring artificial intelligence systems. The ANSM is also envisioned as the joint authority responsible for monitoring medical and in vitro diagnostic devices classified as high-risk AI systems.

Cooperation between these two authorities in the future therefore seems likely for this type of product as well.

This concerted action is not, however, new. The January 2026 protocol is in fact a renewal of the 2020 protocol, designed to adapt cooperation to current health and safety challenges, particularly regarding medical devices and in vitro diagnostic medical devices.

For example:
The ANSM (French National Agency for Medicines and Health Products Safety) and the DGCCRF (French Directorate General for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control) had already demonstrated the value of their cooperation in 2025 by alerting consumers to the lack of reliability and accuracy of devices designed to measure blood glucose levels through simple skin contact:

• The marketing of these products relies on misleading claims;
• The two authorities therefore recommend not using the blood glucose measurement function of these products.
• The DGCCRF, in accordance with its mandate, also notified online marketplaces and websites of illegal advertisements so that they could be removed.

The cooperation protocol concluded between the ANSM and the DGCCRF in January 2025 thus reflects a continuity of stated objectives and existing practices.