The aim of this guideline is to offer best practice advice on the care of people in the reproductive age group who perceive that they have problems in conceiving. Between 1998 and 2000, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) published three guidelines on the management of infertility that covered, respectively, initial investigation and management, management in secondary care and management in tertiary care. This guideline is based on those RCOG guidelines and takes into account a new review of the research evidence; it also covers the diagnostic, medical and surgical management of people throughout all stages of their care in primary-, secondary- and tertiary-care settings.