Increasingly, the structural biology community is aware that the quality of structures deposited in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) needs critical assessment using informative, well-defined and community-accepted validation methods. To obtain recommendations on validation methods and criteria to be applied to newly deposited as well as existing structures in the PDB, the Worldwide Protein Data Bank (wwPDB) has convened several Validation Task Forces (VTFs). The validation methods and criteria suggested by the wwPDB X-ray VTF will be used to validate all X-ray structures deposited in the PDB as well as all crystal structures already in the archive. The talk will highlight the importance of validation and describe the implementation of the recommendations of the X-ray VTF. Salient features of the validation reports generated by the new wwPDB X-ray validation pipeline will also be discussed. It is hoped that all journals that publish biomacromolecular structure papers will make submission of these reports mandatory whenever they receive a manuscript describing a new structure.