Commission E is an independent scientific expert commission for herbal medicinal products. This commission is based at the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices(BfArM). Commission E had an interdisciplinary composition and consisted of doctors, pharmacists, pharmacologists, toxicologists, biostatisticians and also patient representatives. The members were proposed every three years by associations in the field and appointed by the Federal Ministry of Health. A pioneering task of Commission E was the preparation of monographs on the efficacy and safety of herbal medicinal drugs. After 1994, these tasks were taken over by the ESCOP .