Distributor (building with an outgoing arrow)
The standard’s wording, as the sources below reproduce it:
“Indicates the entity distributing the medical device into the locale.”
ISO 15223-1:2021, 5.1.9 · ISO 7000-3724
What it means for you
The company beside the building-and-arrow is a distributor: a business in the supply chain that makes the device available, other than the maker and the importer. It is the name you may see when a local firm sells a foreign maker’s products.
Whether a device is right for you is a question for your pharmacist, nurse or doctor.
- What it looks like
- A building seen at an angle with a curved arrow leaving its roof, followed by a company name and address.
- Where you see it
- Stickers added to device boxes by national distributors, and labels of devices sold through a regional distribution company.
- Other names
- distributed by
What it does not tell you
It does not make the distributor the manufacturer and does not say the distributor tested the device.
Often confused with
Indicates the entity importing the medical device into the locale.
More symbols in “Arrows”
Sources
ISO 15223-1 is a paid standard, so the wording above is quoted as 3 publishers’ public documents reproduce it. Each was fetched and read on the date shown:
- MedTech Europe: Use of Symbols to Indicate Compliance with the MDR, version 3.0 (November 2021) — Annex I shows the Distributor symbol (3724): a building with an arrow; section 15/16 says importers and distributors got new MDR obligations and the symbols were made “to facilitate MDR compliance”. Checked 2026-09-25.
- BÜHLMANN Laboratories: Symbol glossary, version 03 (release date 2025-02-04) — “Distributor — Indicates the entity distributing the medical device into the locale. This symbol shall be accompanied by the name and address of the distributing entity adjacent to the symbol.” Checked 2026-09-25.
- Integra LifeSciences: Symbols Glossary (1410819-2 Rev B) — Lists “Distributor — Indicates the entity distributing the medical device into the locale” among its ISO 15223-1 symbols. Checked 2026-09-25.
Plain-language parts are in our own words; quotations are the sources’ wording.