Abstract. An upgrade and validation test of the recommended cross section database for charged particle reactions used for monitoring incident particle beams, published by the IAEA in 2001, is presented. In this upgrading process experimental cross sections published earlier, and not yet included in the evaluation work, or data measured recently were collected and added to the initial database in order to improve the quality of the recommended data. In the study 8 proton, 5 deuteron, 3 helium-3 and 6 alpha particle induced monitor reactions on Al, Ti, Fe, Ni and Cu targets were included. In general the newly compiled experimental results support the previous recommended data, but in a few cases they influence the decision and result in a slightly different group of selected cross section data sets and hence in new recommended cross section values. Spline fitting method was used to calculate the new recommended data from the selected data sets. For benchmarking and validation of the recommended cross section data, experimental thick target yields were collected from literature and some were newly measured. All data sets were critically compared with the integral thick target yields deduced from the recommended cross sections. In this paper only one reaction for each type of bombarding particles is discussed. A comprehensive paper will be published elsewhere including the results for all the 22 investigated reactions.