The European Virus Archive (EVA) was created in 2008 with funding from the FP7-EU Infrastructure Programme, in response to the need for a coordinated and readily accessible collection of viruses that could be made available to academia, public health organisations and industry. Within three years, it developed from a consortium of nine European laboratories to encompass associated partners in Africa, Russia, China, Turkey, Germany and Italy. In 2014, the H2020 Research and Innovation Framework Programme (INFRAS projects) provided support for the transformation of the EVA from a European to a global organization (EVAg). The EVAg now operates as a non-profit consortium, with 26 partners and 20 associated partners from 21 EU and non-EU countries. In this paper, we outline the structure, management and goals of the EVAg, to bring to the attention of researchers the wealth of products it can provide and to illustrate how end-users can gain access to these resources. Organisations or individuals who would like to be considered as contributors are invited to contact the EVAg coordinator, Jean-Louis Romette, at jean-louis.romette@univmed.fr. •The EVAg was created as an international organization aiming to provide a gold standard resource to the scientific community.•The EVAg operates as a non-profit consortium of 26 partners and 20 associated partners from EU and non-EU countries.•Members and associated members retain ownership of the viruses that they disseminate via the EVAg infrastructure.•The EVAg approach to quality management is directed by the project's own quality standard, based upon OECD guidelines.•The ultimate objective is to make the EVAg a permanent archive that can provide access to viruses and reagents globally.