Quality Control for Molecular Diagnostics (QCMD) is one of the leading independent International External Quality Assessment / Proficiency Testing organisations. Providing wide-ranging quality assessment services primarily focused on molecular diagnosis of infectious diseases to in excess of 2200 laboratories and clinical settings in over 100 countries. QCMD is dedicated to driving the quality of our participants molecular diagnostics through assessment, benchmarking and knowledge transfer, via the creation of insight and thought leadership developed in partnership with leading international scientific experts. QCMD evolved from the successful European Union Concerted Action programmes which were initiated in the early 1990s to address quality control within the clinical diagnosis of viral Meningitis and Encephalitis. The QC programmes were expanded in 1998 through the establishment of a European Union funded project Quality Control Concerted Action (EU-QCCA). This enabled the issues of quality and standardisation to be reviewed in the wider context of diagnostic clinical virology and microbiology through the provision of QC material, proficiency testing (PT) or external quality assessment (EQA), and consensus best practice approaches. The EU-QCCA established a very successful international network and educational EQA scheme. One of the principal objectives of the EU-QCCA was to provide a mechanism for the long-term continuation of the international programmes. QCMD was founded in 2001 to continue and expand the work as an independent provider of External Quality Assessment programmes for molecular diagnostics.