We isolated five clinical strains (three Proteus mirabilis and two Klebsiella pneumoniae) with beta-lactam resistance phenotypes consistent with production of an AmpC-type beta-lactamase. The predicted amino acid sequences of the enzymes were typical of class C beta-lactamases. The enzymes were identified as CMY-2, CMY-4 and a new CMY-variant beta-lactamase, CMY-12. The AmpC beta-lactamases from the two K. pneumoniae isolates were found to be encoded on self-transferable plasmids. The genes encoding the AmpC-type beta-lactamase produced by the three P. mirabilis isolates were chromosomal. Four of the five clinical isolates were from patients transferred from Greece, Algeria and Egypt; one of the K. pneumoniae strains was recovered from a French patient. PFGE analysis and rep-PCR fingerprinting showed that the two P. mirabilis isolates from Greek patients were closely related.