With regard to packaging materials, Q7A does not make a distinction between inner and outer containers. If you have written procedures for the inner containers that actually come into contact with the API, do you also need written procedures for the outer containers, such as fiberboard boxes that do not actually contact the API? An example of the inner container might be glass jar or vial.

If your company is paying good money for something, you probably want some sort of
acceptance criteria to make sure it is what you want. Packaging material is defined in Q7A as,
“material intended to protect and Intermediate of API during storage and transport.” If the material
is not being used for that intent, if it is simply being used to ease the transport and, in fact, you’re
saying the glass bottle is the thing that is really protecting the API, then under Q7A, that’s not
covered and that’s not considered a packaging material. Again, some of these are common
sense
Section 11.1, under lab controls, tells us that, “all specifications, sampling plans, test procedures
should be scientifically sound and appropriate to ensure.” To packaging materials, “the testing or
examination that would be appropriate to ensure” that an outer package conforms to what you
need will probably be a lot simpler.