AbstractComposite dowels are an economically and technically reasonable alternative to the conventional shear connectors, the headed studs. However, their competitiveness is limited by the fact that they are only approved nationally and for a limited period of time, whereas headed studs are firmly anchored in European regulations. Numerous investigations, performed on a national and international level for decades, were necessary in order to enable an integration of composite dowels into the European standards. This paper summarizes the extensive investigations on the influence of cracked concrete, of tensile and combined shear‐tensile loads as well as of composite dowel positions close to the surface on the load‐bearing behaviour of composite dowels. Based on these and former investigations, a consistent design concept for composite dowels was developed, which will also be presented within this paper and shall form the basis for the introduction into European standardization.