Abstract. The comparative analysis of pharmacopoeial articles on Herbal drugs and Herbal drug preparations (tinctures, extracts, essential oils, vegetable fatty and fish oils) shows a continuous increase in the number of monographs in the different editions of the European Pharmacopoeia (from 40 articles in Ph. Eur. 3 to 306 in Ph. Eur. 8). They constitute approximately 16% of the total number of pharmacopoeial articles.The total number of articles on Herbal drugs included in the last edition (Ph. Eur.8) is 170. In this edition, drugs from roots and rhizomes prevail (43) followed by herbs (30) and leaves (27). Largest is the number of drugs containing essential oils (33), flavonoids (24) and mucilages (17).The number of monographs on Herbal drug preparations in Ph. Eur.8 is 136: 63 articles are for galenical preparations (tinctures, extracts, homoeopathic preparations), 33 monographs for essential oils and 40 articles on vegetable and animal fats, oils and waxes). Amongst galenical preparations, the largest is the number of dry extracts (22) followed by the monographs on tinctures (15) and homoeopathic preparations (9).According to the content of active substances in pharmacopoeialgalenical preparations, largest is the number of preparations containing alkaloids (14 articles), followed by essential oil drug preparations (9), flavonoid and anthraquinone (6 and 5 monographs respectively). An important conclusion is the introduction of more accurate and sophisticated instrumental methods for analysis of active components in herbal drugs and herbal drug preparations. The main methods used for analysis are spectrometric (for phenolic substances), gas chromatography (for essential oils) and HPLC for almost all other groups of active substances.