[3] Representatives from 11 governmental forensic laboratories in Western Europe attended a preliminary meeting in 1993 in Rijswijk, Netherlands.

The European Commission recognised ENFSI in 2009 and in 2015 at the decision was made to move the secretariat from Poland to Germany.

[6] The ENFSI Board governs the activities of the organization and consists of five members elected from, and accountable to, the general membership.

It is hosted by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) in Wiesbaden, Germany, with two persons serving in that capacity.

General membership in ENFSI is open to European forensic science institutes and agencies that meet specific criteria.

ENFSI has seventeen Expert Working Groups (EWGs) actively collaborating on furthering their respective disciplines: ENFSI collaborates with many institutions and agencies (both national and international in scope), including the following: Another key activity involves competency assessment and quality assurance.

[21] Many of the above activities are integral to the Council of the European Union's attempts to standardize the practise of forensic science throughout Europe.

[26] One of the activities that the working groups perform is to devise best practice manuals (BMPs) to carry out detailed analyses by each discipline.