Abstract The Medical Device Directive (MDD) will be replaced on 26.05.2020 by the new Medical Device Regulation (MDR). The European Parliament wants to create a transparent, solid, predictable and sustainable legal framework. One of the major upcoming changes effects the perspective on software as a medical device. This paper describes the fundamental relationships between the policy framework and the challenges faced by manufacturers and operators of medical devices, in particular medical software and artificial intelligence (AI) systems, who need to verify compliance. To address this topic, we review and discuss the main implications of medical device regulations on software as a medical device and digital health applications along the MDR structure. Furthermore, we address practical limitations of the implementation, such as the availability of notified bodies and costs of the approval procedure.