Initiative
In 1992 the directors of Western European governmental forensic laboratories agreed that they should hold regular meetings to discuss topics of mutual interest. At the first meeting in 1993 in Rijswijk (The Netherlands) 11 laboratories were represented. It was agreed that membership of ENFSI would be open to countries from the whole of Europe.

Founding meeting
The formal Founding Meeting took place on October 20, 1995 in The Hague and is considered to be the official birthday of ENFSI. Here the founders of ENFSI signed the Memorandum of Understanding governing the operation of the Network, the first regular Board was elected and the logo was introduced.

Developments
At the Annual Meeting 1999 in Moscow, the first Constitution for ENFSI was accepted by the membership. In that same year the ENFSI website was established: www.enfsi.eu.
In 2002 a Secretariat was established for a trial period, financed from the – new introduced - members fees. The Netherlands Forensic Institute volunteered for hosting the Secretariat.
A new ENFSI Constitution was approved in 2004. The main features were the transformation from a Personal membership into an Institutional membership as well as the definite introduction of an Annual fee.

Monopolist status
In 2009 the EC recognised ENFSI as a so-called monopolist i.e. it is considered as the sole voice of the forensic community in Europe.