Waste-to-energy solid-recovered fuels (SRFs) are prepared from non-hazardous waste. Their use is regulated under European Union (EU) legislation and requires specifications for commercial or regulatory purposes. SRFs are seen as important contributors to a sustainable EU waste management. Directive 2001/77/EC includes in its scope the production of electricity from biomass, being defined as the biodegradable fraction of products, waste and residues from agriculture, forestry and related industries, as well as the biodegradable fraction of industrial and municipal waste. In this context, the European Commission (EC) gave a mandate to the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) to develop and validate Technical Specification (TS) concerning SRF for energy recovery and to transform these TS into European Standards. To meet these requests, a holistic validation programme covering quality management and the validation exercises for the pre-standards of CEN's Technical Committee on Solid Recovered Fuels (CEN TC 343) was designed and carried out by various members of CEN TC 343, interested non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the EC's Joint Research Centre (JRC). This paper gives an overview about the validation programme called QUOVADIS (from QUality Management Organisation, VAlidation of Standards, Developments and Inquiries for Solid-Recovered Fuels) and the partnership behind it, and highlights some particular aspects in performing the necessary validation work. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.