Establishing a clinical cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) program needs a dedicated technical surroundings as well as a specific and expert staff. These guidelines based either on proofs or on expert consensus are stated in order to help the physicians to reach or maintain the competence required for clinical use of cardiovascular MRI. After the general safety statements, the guidelines are focused on hardware and software requirements, the MRI sequences and views, the post-acquisition analysis, and the staff. Specific safety concerns are then approached, more particularly stress testing MRI.