[Current situation of the external quality control survey provided by the Japan Medical Association and its problems].

The Japan Medical Association (JMA) has been providing the external quality survey program in clinical laboratory testing for the past 37 years, 2,812 labs participated in 2003, and it has improved overall interlaboratory variations, particularly in enzyme activity examinations. There are many other external quality survey programs provided independently by the other organizations, and the JMA Committee on Quality Control Survey in Clinical Laboratory Testing, in association with JCCLS and the other expert panels, had discussed on the possibility of implementing a new external quality assessment scheme, named NEQAS (National External Quality Assessment Scheme). The current problems on the external quality control survey are discussed.