Comparative analysis of national regulations concerning blood safety across Europe

In October 2001, representatives of 17 European countries (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey and UK) met in Sarajevo at a course organized by the European School of Transfusion Medicine to discuss their countries' regulations concerning different aspects of the safety of blood transfusion. Results are summarized in tables to facilitate comparisons. Most countries (13/17) have specific transfusion laws and 9/17 have hospital-based systems as opposed to national organizations. Quality assurance is common among investigated countries (14/17). Voluntary associations are responsible for donor promotion in the majority of countries (13/17). Exclusively, voluntary non-remunerated donors are found in 5/17 countries, whereas in the remaining ones, incentives, family replacement and remuneration are mechanisms stimulating blood donation. Medical doctors using official selection criteria are checking donor suitability in virtually all countries, which also perform main microbiological testing. Regulations on good clinical use of blood and derivatives are present in most countries but applied only in some. Although the data presented need to be interpreted with some caution, this preliminary analysis shows that, although some significant differences still exist, the majority of countries studied are moving in the same direction to ensure safety of their blood supply.