The ICDP started officially on February 26, 1996 when the Memorandum of Understanding was ratified by representatives of the US National Science Foundation, the Chinese Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources and the German Federal Ministry for Education, Science, Research and Technology/ GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (GFZ) at the German Embassy in Tokyo.

Parallel to the formal signatures the three main panels in the organizational structure of the ICDP were formed: the Assembly of Governors (AOG), the Executive Committee (EC) and the Science Advisory Group (SAG) and a first call for proposals was issued in EOS and other international journals. The first proposals were reviewed by the SAG and decided on by the EC and the AOG at the end of 1996.