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Cancer Screening, Diagnosis and Care

Outreach

European breast cancer guidelines

European breast cancer guidelines have been developed for adoption/adaptation to local contexts by screening programme organisers, healthcare authorities and/or healthcare professionals and are already being regularly updated. 

The European breast cancer guidelines and/or their associated products have been used for the following purposes by the countries/entities listed.  

External review of guidelines’ quality

The European breast cancer guidelines have been judged trustworthy following an independent evaluation.  

  • Italy 
    Italian National Institute of Health (ISS) 
  • Sweden 
    National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) 
  • Tunisia 
    “Instance Nationale de l’Evaluation et de l’Accréditation en Santé” (INEAS) and the Tunisian Society of Oncology 
Adaptation of the European breast cancer guidelines 

List of EU member states or other countries who have adopted or adapted the recommendations from the European Breast Cancer guidelines to their context. 

Use of the evidence reviews informing the guidelines’ recommendations 

Countries may use the evidence profiles, systematic review reports, etc. to update their national guidelines or to support other guideline development efforts, such as health technology assessment. To date, the following countries/entities have done so. 

  • Moldova  
    National Agency for Public Health (ANSP) 
  • Norway 
    Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) 
  • United States of America  
    American College of Physicians (ACP) 
Translations 

With the support of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), the recommendations included in the breast cancer guidelines have been or are currently in the process of being translated into other European languages to facilitate their adaptation to national and regional contexts. 

 

European quality assurance scheme for breast cancer services

The European Quality Assurance (QA) scheme has reached key milestones in its development, including successful testing and formal endorsement. Interest in its implementation is growing across Europe. 

Testing phase 

Twenty-one entities from nine Member States (nine hospitals, oncology centres or breast cancer centres; a cancer registry; three breast cancer screening programmes; six certification bodies; and two national accreditation bodies) participated in the testing phase of the European QA scheme. The testing also included the collaboration of three entities that develop and operate third-party schemes.  

EA approval 

In its summary report, the European co-operation for Accreditation (EA) has deemed the scheme fit for purpose following the testing phase and has endorsed the mandatory application of the scheme for the accreditation of certification bodies that would like to certify breast cancer services according to the European QA scheme. 

Interest in implementing the scheme 

Several organisations and national entities have expressed interest in implementing the European QA scheme to date. 

  • Five national/regional screening programmes and five hospitals, oncology or breast cancer centres have shown interest and started implementing the scheme.  
  • Four certification bodies are exploring the possibility of certifying breast cancer services for the European QA scheme.  
  • Major third-party schemes have expressed interest and there are ongoing collaborations to enable their recognition within the European QA scheme.  
  • Greece and Cyprus have expressed interest in the European QA scheme on a national level, pending further interactions. 
Dissemination  

The scheme owner of the European QA Scheme for Breast Cancer Services has received numerous requests for hard copies of the scheme manual from hospitals, screening centres, certification bodies and other stakeholders across thirteen EU Member States and five countries in the European Economic Area and beyond.

Contact

For more information, please contact the JRC: 

European breast cancer guidelines
JRC-CANCER-POLICY-SUPPORT@ec.europa.eu 

European quality assurance scheme for breast cancer services
JRC-CANCER-CARE-QA-SCHEMES@ec.europa.eu 

 

Last updated April 2026