Activites

• 1996/05/13 Final act published in Official Journal
• 1996/04/17 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T4-0185/1996 summary

    Parliament adopted the report by Mr Christian CABROL (UPE, F) on the communication from the Commission on blood safety and self-sufficiency in the European Community. Parliament noted the European goal of self-sufficiency and called for the abolition of laws and administrative provisions which prevent the free circulation of plasma-derived products in the European Union. Reaffirming that the human body and its parts are inalienable and non-marketable, it stressed the need to take measures to guarantee maximum safety in blood supplies, but on the basis of voluntary, unpaid donations. It hoped, in particular, that support would be given to blood donor associations and voluntary organizations and called for the organization of a European Blood Donation Day. Parliament also called for common regulations to be drawn up applicable to the whole of the blood transfusion chain concerning the selection of donors, the devising of technical quality tests for screening for transmissible viral infections and identifying bacteria and parasites, the treatment of blood, plasma or blood derivatives (conservation and storage conditions) and its rational use. Wherever possible Parliament intends to promote the use of self-transfusion, for which there should be appropriate information. Parliament called on the Commission to support research activity on blood screening tests and to standardize infectious markers and also to launch and/or support action of all kinds which seeks to encourage the dissemination of information about blood and blood products and collection, treatment and transfusion procedures. It also stressed the need for appropriate training for health professionals. It called for a recognition of the significant safety benefits arising from donors who donate repeatedly and for the setting up of a European Blood Safety Supervisory Body responsible for monitoring blood from the time of collection to the time of use. Finally, it called for consideration of the possibility of harmonizing the granting of licences to organizations involved in the collection, treatment, processing and distribution of blood and blood derivatives in the European Union. �

• 1996/04/16 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 1996/03/20 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A4-0094/1996
• #1845
• 1995/06/02 Council Meeting
• 1995/01/20 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 1994/12/21 Non-legislative basic document published
  • COM(1994)0652 summary

    In this document, the Commission reviews both the tremendous benefits from the therapeutic use of blood products and hence the fact that they are indispensable to medicine nowadays, and the huge dangers inherent in blood transfusions in the Community. In this respect, it expresses a number of thoughts on how to improve the safety of transfusions and proposes a series of Community measures in order to reduce the risk of transmission of serious diseases such as AIDS, hepatitis A, B and C, syphilis, borreliosis, malaria and septicaemia. In order to achieve this, the Commission calls first for greater awareness of the dangers of transfusion by increasing the public's awareness of the use of blood and plasma, the precautions needed in order to maximise safety and the measures needed in order to achieve self-sufficiency in blood. It calls on the Member States to apply strict selection criteria for blood donors and, within the framework of the free movement of blood in the Community, to harmonise donor selection procedures in force in the Member States in order to give a greater guarantee of the safety of blood products of Community origin. Along the same lines, the Commission raises the possibility of harmonising the systems of tests carried out on donated blood and plasma. The Commission would also like studies to be carried out on the use of blood products from the point of view of the patient (especially within the framework of medicinal products derived from human plasma), the donor, self-sufficiency (while guaranteeing optimum use of blood and plasma), good clinical practice and the financial implications. The Commission also refers to the need to introduce a blood surveillance system based on a network of European transfusion centres linked to epidemiological agencies in order to determine the level of risk (and eventually eliminate the risk) inherent in transfusions of infectious blood agents. Next steps: because blood and blood products move within the Community, a Community blood strategy needs to be defined in order to: - draw up scientifically reliable policies and common donor selection procedures in the Community; - use efficient, valid, reliable screening tests throughout Europe; - draw up quality evaluation criteria and good manufacturing practices for collecting and giving transfusions of blood and monitoring patients; - introduce a blood monitoring system in order to compile epidemiological data on the transfusion sector; - draw up educational programmes for health professionals on the optimum use of blood; - encourage the dissemination of information on blood and on blood collection, processing and transfusion procedures through awareness-raising programmes.�

Documents

• Non-legislative basic document published: COM(1994)0652
• Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A4-0094/1996
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T4-0185/1996

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)