The track and field record book in Europe is being reviewed to see if it can still be believed to be clean of doping.

European Athletics said Thursday it has created "a task force to examine the credibility of European records."

Current records include several set in the 1980s by athletes from Soviet Bloc countries, including East Germany. Some times in women's track events still stand as world records.

European Athletics president Svein Arne Hansen said records should be 100 per cent credible.

"However, there is a view that this is currently not the case with some of the performances on the European record list," the Norwegian official said in a statement.

Hansen is a board member at the IAAF, which will await Europe's findings.

"I have been in regular contact with IAAF president Sebastian Coe on this matter and the IAAF will monitor this work closely before deciding on any actions at the world level," Hansen said.

"This is obviously a contentious and difficult issue that they will be looking into."

The task force has been set a September target to report back. It is chaired by Irish official Pierce O'Callaghan, the head of operations for the 2017 world championships in London.