continuous medical education cme and continuous professional development are the most wellknown mechanisms but oecd countries have also introduced different forms of professional assessment peer review and relicensing the extent to which cme cpd peer review professional assessment and relicensing are mandatory differs from country to countiy and varies from a mandatory amount of accredited cme courses over a certain period of time to a relicensing system based on a thorough individual assessment of performance over for example the past four years standards for medical specialty training do not seem harmonised over the various specialties and cme structures are voluntary and differ between specialties