The founding meeting of the ACP was convened in the Congress House of the City of Innsbruck on June 11, 1993 at 1.45 pm, which was attended by 18 under the Chairmanship of Univ. Doz. Dr. Doz. M. Wunderlich '(at that time Primar AÖ KH Hollabrunn) and Dr. med. F. Herbst (former senior consultant at the I. Surgical University Clinic Vienna), and the first list of members was initiated accordingly. The structure and objectives of the ACP were presented, as approved by the Austrian Society of Surgery as the basis for the future sub-association by prior request. The principal stated objectives are the exchange of expertise regarding diagnostic and therapeutic methods and the advancement of technical standards based on the current state of knowledge in the form of seminars, individual lectures and symposia, as well as the training of surgeons in Austria. The conduct of inter/national studies for the critical evaluation of procedures related to diseases of the colon, rectum and anus, as well as the cooperation with the European and other inter/national medical societies is another explicit goal. From the outset, the main focus of the new working group pertained to the organization of coloproctological focus symposia and special sessions within the framework of the Austrian Congress of Surgeons.