[1] The Charter of the European Council of Skeptical Organisations states that it strives 1) To protect the public from the promulgation of claims and therapies which have not been subjected to critical testing and thus might pose a danger to them.

2) To investigate by means of controlled tests and experiments such extraordinary claims which are on the fringe of or contradict current scientific knowledge.

[3] The Charter was signed by Amardeo Sarma (GWUP), Michael Howgate (UK Skeptics), Miguel Angel Sabadell (ARP), Paul Kurtz (CSICOP), Tim Trachet (SKEPP), Arlette Fougnies (Comité Para) and Cornelis de Jager (Stichting Skepsis).

[3] Cornelis de Jager served as first president until 2001, when he was replaced by Amardeo Sarma (2001–2013),[4] who in turn was succeeded by Gábor Hraskó (2013–2017).

At the 2015 conference held in London, Hraskó felt that he had learned a lot about organising from the UK skeptic groups.

The UK skeptic Michael Marshall was able to contact the ECSO, who in turn were able to notify all the leaders of the other groups.

[34] András Gabor Pinter reported from the 2019 conference in Belgium that they heard presentations about investigating psychics, the anti-vaccination movement, GMOs, and nuclear power.