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In Europe, assisted reproductive technology (ART) is monitored in national registers but the definitions used and the recorded data vary from one register to another. In order to provide the stakeholders in this field with the most useful information and avoid an intolerable administrative burden for individual clinics, it is important to agree what constitutes core data for national registers. To do this, experts from 24 European countries met in March 2007 in Lausanne under the auspices of the Fondation pour l'Andrologie, la Biologie et l'Endocrinologie de la Reproduction (FABER) to discuss what constitutes core data for national assisted reproductive technology (ART) registers. Delegates concluded that only mainstream, non-experimental techniques should be included. Surrogate endpoints should be avoided. Data should be clearly defined and quantifiable, relevant to a majority of stakeholders and include factors of major ethical concerns and safety data. Data should not be recorded if they could be more appropriately collected through linkage with other national registers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]