NCCLS: objectives, organization, and activities.

In the 1960s, representatives from the professions, industry, and government formed the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards to promote the development and use of national and international standards in the clinical laboratory field. In June at the IV International Symposium on Quality Control in Osaka, Japan, the author of this article, a representative of the NCCLS international committee, provided symposium participants with, an overview of this unique organization. He recalled the events leading to its founding and detailed its structure, it voluntary process of standard setting, and its constituency.