Implementing Regulation (EU) No 920/2013 is amended as follows:

1. (1)

   in Article 4, the following paragraph 6 is added:

   6.

   By way of derogation from paragraph 2, during the period from 19 May 2020 to 25 May 2021, the designating authority of a Member State, in extraordinary circumstances resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and due to the adoption of Regulation (EU) 2020/561 of the European Parliament and of the Council6 deferring the application of certain provisions of Regulation (EU) 2017/745 of the European Parliament and of the Council7, may decide to renew a designation as notified body without having recourse to the procedures laid down in Article 3.

   In order to decide on the renewal of a designation as notified body in accordance with the first subparagraph, the designating authority shall carry out an assessment in order to verify the continuous competence of the notified body and its ability to perform the tasks for which it was designated.

   The decision on the renewal of a designation as notified body in accordance with this paragraph shall be adopted before the end of the validity period of the preceding designation and shall automatically become void at the latest on 26 May 2021.

   The designating authority shall notify the Commission of its decision, giving substantive reasons therefore, on the renewal of a designation as notified body in accordance with this paragraph by means of the ‘New Approach Notified and Designated Organisations’ Information System.

   The Commission may require a designating authority to provide it with the results of the assessment supporting the decision on the renewal of a designation as notified body in accordance with this paragraph, as well as the outcome of related surveillance and monitoring activities, including those referred to in Article 5.

2. (2)

   in Article 5, paragraph 1, the following subparagraph is added:

   By way of derogation from the first and second subparagraphs, in exceptional circumstances relating to the COVID-19 pandemic that temporarily prevent the designating authority of a Member State from carrying out surveillance on-site assessments or observed audits, it shall carry out any measures to ensure an adequate level of surveillance that remain possible under those circumstances in addition to the assessment of an appropriate number of the notified body’s reviews of the manufacturer’s technical documentation, including clinical evaluations. That designating authority shall examine changes to the organisational and general requirements set out in Annex II that have occurred since the last on-site assessment and the activities the notified body has performed thereafter.