Summary The European Diploma in Anaesthesio- logy and Intensive Care (EDAIC) is a two-part multinational and multilingual examination which was accredited by the Union of European Medical Specialties (UEMS). The written Part I consists of two papers with 60 multiple choice questions each, the first paper focuses on basic medical sciences, the second on clinical anaesthesia topics. Part II is an oral end-of-training examination. Many countries in and outside Europe have recognized the EDAIC as being equivalent to their national diploma or require EDAIC Part I as a mandatory national examination for all their trainees. Consequently the number of candidates participating in both parts of EDAIC has increased markedly in the last years. The European Diploma documents profound knowledge and an excellent standard. This is in contrast to nonstandardized examinations hand­‑ led differently by the local and offi­‑ cially responsible authorities in Germany. Since 2013 the computer-based On-Line Assessment (OLA) is held in many centres all over the world once per year. It has the same structure and similar difficulty as EDAIC Part I. This makes OLA an ideal tool of formative assessment of training and allows partici- pants to prepare specifically for EDAIC Part I.