title: [Understanding the role of the European public institutions in blood transfusion].
abstract: In the context of increased demand of blood components, it is highly desirable to ensure development and implementation of established standards for ethical, organisational and regulatory fields in order to guarantee the sufficiency, quality and safety of blood components and their derivatives as well as the protection of donors and recipients. In Europe, the contributions of the European public institutions is fundamental for the achievement of these goals and for the harmonisation of practices inherent to transfusional medicine activities. The Council of Europe with its 47 member states constitutes the ideal platform to tackle these themes: for half a century, its public health and bioethics experts have contributed to the elaboration of conventions and recommendations which serve as a model to elaboration of national or European regulations relevant to this field.
authors.affiliation: CS 30026, Direction Européenne de la Qualité du Médicament et Soins de Santé, Conseil de l'Europe, 67081 Strasbourg, France. marie-emmanuelle.behr-gross@edqm.eu
authors.forename: M-E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Behr-Gross
mesh_terms: D016913:Blood Component Transfusion / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000592:standards; D001803:Blood Transfusion / Q000592:standards*; D005060:Europe; D005062:European Union; D011634:Public Health; D012449:Safety