The Balkan Clinical Laboratory Federation (BCLF) as a regional organization includes all Balkan countries, i.e. Serbia and Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Albania, Turkey and Greece, that are also EFCC and IFCC members. As a regional organization, BCLF gathers all clinical chemists from the Balkan region with the aim of improving clinical laboratory practice in each of the Balkan countries, as a result of new medical discoveries, new technologies, and changes in the organization and in the process of laboratory support of clinical activities. To achieve this aim, BCLF will work on the basis of the strategic plan as follows:

• to promote Member activities,

• to develop and maintain BCLF communications between countries inside the region and outside
towards EFCC and IFCC,

• to create own BCLF journal or use some well established national journal for publication
activities,

• to promote BCLF through national, regional and international congresses,

• to organize teaching courses and joint seminars with IFCC, EFCC, WHO and other institutions,

• to encourage the professional development of individuals and regional working groups in National
Societies and maintain the activities in standardization and research activities
oriented towards the patient and towards the health of individuals,

• to establish collaboration, joint meetings and projects inside the Balkan countries and outside with
international organizations having interest in the clinical laboratory,

• on the basis of the conclusions reached at the EFCC Symposium for Balkan Region (Belgrade, June
2005) the Societies from Balkan countries will work on the improvement of the education and training
programs in clinical chemistry and laboratory medicine, organization, quality management and
accreditation (ISO, CEN standards), external quality assessment programs, laboratory information
systems,

• to establish the reference laboratories, and laboratories for specialized investigations (DNA methods,
trace elements, tumor markers, etc.) in the Balkan countries,

• the interest of the BCLF member countries lies in the investigations of the specific geographic
pathology of the Balkan region (hereditary nervous, neuromuscular, hematological and other
diseases, endemic Balkan nephropathy, arteriosclerosis, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus,
etc. as the most frequent diseases in the region for the improvement of patient care through laboratory
medicine.