This paper deals with the development of loading protocols appropriate for cyclic testing in regions of low to moderate seismicity in Europe. To serve this goal, cumulative damage demands imposed by a set of 60 ground motion records, representative of a European moderate seismicity region for the 2% probability of exceedance in 50 years seismic hazard level, on a wide variety of SDOF systems are evaluated. To meet the calculated cumulative damage demands, several loading protocols are developed for different structural types, vibration periods and level of reliability (medians or 84th percentiles). Protocol comparisons reveal that the proposed loading protocols for the median estimates of cycle amplitudes are significantly less demanding than existing protocols. Consequently, they can result in more cost-effective structural configurations in European regions of low to moderate seismicity.