During 1992, the in vitro antibiotic susceptibility of 462 anaerobic bacteria was performed in 7 hospitals, by the reference agar dilution method. Among the 222 Bacteroides fragilis group strains, only one Bacteroides fragilis strain was resistant to imipenem and all bêtalactams, even combined with bêtalactamase-inhibitors while metronidazole resistance could not be detected. One major outer membrane protein (probably a porin) was lacking in some of the six amoxicillin-clavulanic acid resistant Bacteroides fragilis group strains. Evolution in antibiotic resistance rates could be assessed only for clindamycin and piperacillin whose resistance rates increased to 14 and 15.8 p. cent, respectively. On the whole anaerobic strains resistance rates were: imipenem 0.2, ticarcillin-clavulanic acid 0.5, amoxicillin-clavulanic acid or metronidazole 1.5, piperacillin 9.1, cefotaxime-sulbactam 9.7, cefoxitin 12.8, clindamycin 13.7, cefotaxime 27.2, amoxicillin 45 and ciprofloxacin 70, respectively.