TBETHICS is a project funded by the European Commission within the FP5th Framework. Its goal is to gather expertise in ethics, biomedical research and clinical trials to elaborate recommendations on ethical issues in clinical trials on TUBERCULOSIS in different countries. A previous meeting in 2001 disclosed limitations of universal guidelines for ethics in clinical research. It showed the needs for the development of recommendations regarding comments and suggestions resulting from the experience of partners of this project in Africa and Asia.