The strength of the sweet cherry industry throughout Europe and Asia is due to the breeding efforts of France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Denmark, the UK, the Czech Republic, Romania, Estonia and Ukraine, Turkey, Japan, and China. The last decade has seen the release of more than 140 novel cultivars that have provided the major thrust in extending the crop's seasonal calendar and improving fruit quality traits such as size, flavour, flesh firmness and colour. Fruit crack resistance has been enhanced and there are now a dozen cultivars with only 5-10% of fruit affected by cracking due to rain-damages. Molecular studies have brought new light to bear upon the genetic control mechanisms of key tree and fruit traits and this should enhance future breeding efforts. The introduction of new self-fertile cultivars with mutated S-locus alleles, has been a key factor in upgrading crop yields, especially in Italy. Notable releases include very early-season 'Primulat' and 'Early Bigi' (France); the self-fertile 'Sweet Early' and 'Grace Star' (Italy); the mid-season ripeners 'Giorgia' (Italy) and 'Vera' (Hungary); the mid-to-late 'Kordia', 'Vanda', 'Techlovan' (Czech Republic) and 'Black Star' (Italy); and the late ripeners 'Regina' (Denmark) and 'Alex' (Hungary). specific section seeking data on average number of yearly crosses, main parents, number of seedlings produced, number of plants in selection phases 2 and 3, total number of cultivars released, date of release, and the main objectives pursued (see Table 2); (3) methods of cultivar release, (free release, patents, trademarks), and the kind of field performance tests and trial set-up.