Standard PREanalytical Code version 3.0.

Quality Assurance in biospecimen collection, processing, and storage is the focus of International Best Practices and accreditation standards. Traceability and documentation of the preanalytical phase is part of recently recommended lists of essential biobank datasets. The Standard PREanalytical Code (SPREC) was first developed and published by the ISBER Biospecimen Science Working Group in 2009 and was updated in 2012. The SPREC is a seven-element code corresponding to the most critical preanalytical variables of fluid and solid biospecimens. In this short communication, the SPREC version 3.0 is published. It includes more options, based on recent technological developments and on recently acquired knowledge about the critical ranges of preanalytical times, such as tissue ischemia times (Table 1, Table 2).