This is the first report from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) on the enhanced surveillance of hepatitis B and C viral infections. It aims to describe basic trends and epidemiological features of both diseases across countries in the European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA) for the years 2006 to 2011. Enhanced surveillance of hepatitis B and C in Europe provides important information to help monitor the distribution of the diseases and to evaluate the public health response to control the transmission of infections.