The most important achievements and circumstances during this epoch are: In 1983 the CECT joined the recently established European Culture Collection Organization (ECCO). 1985 saw the publication of the second edition of the Strains Catalogue of Strains, which on this occasion included 805 strains (482 bacteria and 323 fungi); in 1990 the third edition was published, for the first time in English. The latter included information obtained through the Microbial Information Network of Europe (MINE), the Information Centre for European Culture Collections, Microbial Strains Data Network (MSDN), the World Data Centre (WDC), lists of abbreviations and acronyms, a list of 967 bacterial strains and 814 strains of fungi; a numerical index of the strains in the CECT, culture media and a list of applications.
Since 1991 it has constituted one of the services of the University of Valencia and is thus reflected on the Web page. In 1992, following a request from the Ministry of Industry, which wished to have an internationally recognised institution in Spain to handle applications for patents that involved microorganisms, the CECT carried out the corresponding transactions and obtained recognition as an International Depository Authority for storing microorganisms for patent purposes in accordance with the Budapest Treaty (IDA). The CECT is therefore the only international authority for the deposit of bacteria, filamentous fungi and yeasts for purposes of patent existing in Spain.
As of 2000 the CECT has offered a catalogue on-line which contains the same information as the printed catalogues, but which is updated constantly with the new public deposits and gives information about variations in the taxonomic status of the strains.
Currently, the Spanish Type Culture Collection continues to be the only official collection of microorganisms of public nature in Spain that keeps and supplies bacteria, filamentous fungi and yeasts. After the death of Prof. Federico Uruburu in September 2003, Prof. Esperanza Garay Aubán, full Professor of Microbiology at the University of Valencia, was named Director.