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Specifying the target reliability levels is one of the key issues in the assessment of existing structures. For a majority of existing buildings and infrastructures, the design life has been reached or will be reached in the near future. These structures need to be reassessed in order to verify their safety. Eurocodes provide a general basis primarily intended for the design of new structures, but the basic principles can be used for assessing existing buildings, too. Reliability levels are generally based on both economic optimization and criteria for human safety. In this study, both methods are elaborated for existing structures. It appears that the requirement for the same target reliability for existing and new structures is uneconomical. Further, cost optimization seems to yield rather low reliability levels and human safety criteria often become the critical factor. The study concludes with practical guidelines for establishing reliability indices for existing structures linked to Eurocode principles