This part of ISO 10993 describes: - the general principles governing the biological evaluation of medical devices within a risk management process; - the general categorization of devices based on the nature and duration of their contact with the body; - the evaluation of existing relevant data from all sources; - the identification of gaps in the available data set on the basis of a risk analysis; - the identification of additional data sets necessary to analyse the biological safety of the medical device; - the assessment of the biological safety of the medical device.