Sites still need to meet the requirements of the Standard.

In these unprecedented times, product safety systems will be pressurised and it is arguably even more vital that sites ensure good practices of which the internal audit programme is a powerful tool. However, it may be important to review and prioritise the items within the internal audit programme – to maintain the internal audits of the most vital systems, GMP inspections, etc, and update scheduling of audits of less vital systems to later in the year.

Sites may need to adapt their normal ways of working, for example, identifying alternative auditors or where appropriate to the system being audited, such as documentation, remote systems may be an effective alternative.