MIPM anticipates Brexit

With Brexit, which is now set to take place on January 31, 2020, after its third postponement, MIPM will lose its European approval. The consequences for MIPM: catastrophic. Overnight, the company would no longer be able to deliver.

Therefore, Rosenheimer and her colleagues decided to have MIPM products approved by TÜV Süd in the future. But what sounds simple was a mammoth task for the company, both in terms of time and finances.

"We have been monitoring Brexit since the referendum in 2016," says Rosenheimer. Recently, they had become "really nervous" about the developments. The risk of losing approval for the products – MIPM primarily manufactures two devices that reliably measure and display blood pressure, ECG, or oxygen saturation even under the extreme conditions of an MRI – was growing.

Additionally, the EU required a new certificate that could not be obtained from the previous authority. "That's why we first discussed changing the approval authority in August 2018. This July, it became serious. Up to eight employees had to be assigned by Rosenheimer for the preparation. And even they had to work overtime. But that wasn't all. The costs were high: "We had to spend 70,000 euros." But they had to spend this money to keep the company alive. "Fortunately, we can now afford it," says Rosenheimer. She believes many other medical companies could break because of Brexit. "Forty percent of European companies are with the approval authority in the United Kingdom," says the managing director. They all risk losing their approval.

But Rosenheimer believes that especially smaller companies will not be able to afford the switch to TÜV Süd. They face closure. "These are often small family businesses, with entire livelihoods at stake," she says. Many of the companies have already turned to the IHK for support. The outcome: uncertain.

MIPM no longer has to worry. "TÜV has been great," says Rosenheimer. And so the switch was completed faster than the usual six months. "Now the sleepless nights are over," says Rosenheimer. The necessary hearing for the transfer was successfully completed, and the new certificates are hanging on the wall at MIPM. Rosenheimer: "Brexit can now come."

Michael N. Rosenheimer