National Blood Authority (NBA) seeks stakholder comments on barcoding

23 October 2006

The National Blood Authority (NBA) is a statutory agency established under the National Blood Authority ACT 2003 to improve and enhance the management of the Australian blood banking and plasma product sector at a national level.

The NBA manages the national planning and purchasing of blood and blood products on behalf of all Australian governments, which jointly provide ~$600 million per annum to manage the blood supply. The NBA represents the interests of all Australian governments on a cost-shared basis. The State and Territory governments contribute 37% and the Australian Federal Government contributes 63% of funding for the NBA.

In contracts since January 2005, the NBA has sought that suppliers of some blood products comply with EAN128 for barcoding. In November 2005, the NBA specified compliance to EAN128 in a Request for Tender (RFT) for supply of defined blood products (mainly recombinant products to treat haemophilia and other bleeding disorders). This requirement resulted in feedback from some stakeholders and suppliers, questioning the suitability of EAN128, and the broader implications.

The NBA consequently realized that they needed to consult with suppliers and stakeholders on this issue.

On the 19 July 2006, the NBA released a discussion paper— Developing and Implementing a National Policy on Barcoding for Blood Product Suppliers . This paper can be downloaded from the NBA website—www.nba.gov.au, and was released for public consultation, with submissions closing on the 6th of September.

In collaboration with ICCBBA Inc, HIBCC AU prepared a submission that recommended that the NBA adopt the ISBT 128 standard for fresh blood products, and ISO/IEC 15418 for plasma, recombinant, and diagnostic products. ICCBBA, Inc is an international not-for-profit organization responsible for the management, development, and promotion of the ISBT 128 Information Standard for blood, cellular therapy and tissue products. ISO/IEC 15418— Information Technology, ASC Data Identifiers and EAN.UCC Application Identifiers and maintenance is the ISO standard under which the HIBC standard is recognized and specified.

The NBA discussion paper and subsequent submissions and consultations with stakeholders will lead to advice being provided to the Jurisdictional Blood Committee (JBC), a forum where each State and Territory and Australian Government is represented. The JBC is responsible for providing policy and funding advice to the Australian Health Ministers Conference (AHMAC).

To download the HIBCC AU submisstion to the NBA, please click here.

For additional information contact:
Kirk Kikirekov
(02) 9797 0883
kirk.kikirekov@hibcc-au.com.au