PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS There is no doubt that the content of this EAES Consensus Development Conferences (CDC's) booklet represents an extremely important contribution to answering the following questions: which area of endoscopic surgery requires quality assurance ? what methodology should be employed ? what further action is required ? In order to try to answer these questions, the Executive Office of the EAES decided to appoint an "ad hoc" working group which started its activity in 1993. Under the Presidency of Professor Hans Troidl and the scientific mandate of Professor Edmund Neugebauer...