The occurrence of the quarantine pestThrips palmiin The Netherlands in 1992 and the difficulties encountered in enforcing legal eradication measures have stimulated discussion concerning a possible network of diagnostic services in Europe. Official services find it increasingly difficult to evaluate and adopt the latest diagnostic techniques produced by research institutes and universities. It is proposed to create international discipline‐oriented working groups to prepare draft identification methods for the official EPPO and EU quarantine pests. These draft methods could be harmonized by the EPPO Panel on Diagnostics and approved by EPPO Council. This is a two‐sided sword: internationally agreed identification methods are produced and a diagnostic network comes into being at the same t