The quality management concept for the first wave of the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Adults (DEGS1) included in addition to conducting internal quality assurance (QS) also the supervision by an external independent institute. After a restricted tendering procedure, the Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology-BIPS was commissioned to conduct the external quality assurance. The external quality control included the review of the operation manuals, the training of the field staff, the execution of field work (including measurements), and the monitoring of sampling, response and data management. For the realization of the controls in these areas, test criteria were developed to reveal shortcomings early and to give recommendations for the internal quality assurance. This paper briefly describes the concept and the execution of the accompanying external quality assurance with regard to the above mentioned areas. An English full-text version of this article is available at SpringerLink as supplemental.