Bulletin 21-4

Standards Comment Period for AATB Members

February 22, 2021

Effective Mach 1, 2021, AATB will implement a new standards comment period to ensure that all proposed changes to the AATB Standards are broadly reviewed by AATB members before being presented to the AATB Board of Governors. The Standards Comment Period Policy (The Policy) will be added to the AATB Standards review process, as approved by the Standards Committee. This addition is intended to expand AATB individual member participation in the standards' revision process.

The Policy establishes a 21-day comment period to ensure that all proposed changes to any AATB Standard are first presented to AATB members through their council, prior to being finalized by the Standards Committee and subsequently presented to the Board of Governors for their review.

AATB recommends all individual members join a council so that they can participate in this new review process. The goal of The Policy is to solicit member feedback to ensure the Standards Committee more fully understands the potential impact of the proposed standard changes on member institutions. The Standards Committee will evaluate all comments received and record the evaluation in their meeting minutes.

As specified in their charter, the Standards Committee is an organized group of AATB members who have been selected to represent AATB membership in the evaluation, development, revision, and maintenance of standards for tissue banking.  

If you have any questions regarding this communication, please contact Dr. Roman Hitchev, Standards Committee liaison at hitchevr@aatb.org, or Valerie Cruz, Standards Committee liaison support at cruzv@aatb.org.