ISS is a public technical and scientific body of the Italian National Health System, under the Ministry of Health (MoH)and acts as consultant for the MoH, government, and regions. CNT, set up under the Law 91/1999, is located at the ISS, as a department. It coordinates all activities on donation, allocation and transplantation of organs; donation, banking and transplantation of tissues; waiting lists of patients. It manages the Transplant Information System, collecting data on donation, allocation and transplantation of organ including transplanted organ quality, defines protocols about safety and security of organ donation and criteria for operational protocols for organ and tissue allocation, allocation of organs for urgencies and national programmes. It fixes parameters for transplant quality assessment, promotes information campaigns for the public, in collaboration with MoH and patients’ Associations, promotes and develops training courses regarding organ donation. ISS and CNT have a vast experience in project participation and coordination. During these years CNT international activity has evolved, focusing on: international relations, EU-funded projects, cooperation agreements with EU and Mediterranean countries, international organ exchanges through the Italian Gate to Europe in partnership with CIR OCST and Policlinico Umberto I, monitoring of Italian patients abroad and of foreign patients in Italy.
