The fatigue strength verification is a key factor in the design of cyclical loaded steel and lightweight steel structures. In particular, mechanical fastened joints represent hotspots in the structure that require special attention. The fatigue strength assessment acc. to the Eurocode 3 Part 1-9 based on the nominal stress concept with defined detail categories for different structural details. This method is still the preferred verification procedure in many technical areas. Most of the influencing variables on fatigue resistance as mean stress level, residual stresses, material strength, notch effects etc. are already covered by the corresponding detail category of a structural detail. This allows verification to be carried out without the need for precise knowledge of these influencing variables in the verification. Associated with this is also a conservatism in the design of some of the structural details from the Eurocode 3 Part 1-9, which is demonstrated by new studies on the fatigue resistance of bearing type connections with mechanical fasteners. In these studies, the material strength and the joint configuration (single or double lap joints, variation of hole and edge distances, number of fasteners) were systematically changed to determine their effects on fatigue resistance. A promising alternative is the verification according to the effective notch stress concept for non-welded structural details. This concept makes it possible to consider two main effects for bearing type connections in the design, particularly the material strength of the components and the notch effect. Cause of the missing preload in bearing type joints they transmit the external actions by bearing contact. The bearing contact results in a combination of different stress increasing effect in the components, which requires a more detailed description by numerical studies for verification. By comparing the fatigue strength from test-assisted S-N- curves (nominal stresses) with synthetic S-N curves (effective notch stress concept) the deficits of the existing design rules are highlighted. In addition, a new design proposal for the bearing type joints with mechanical fasteners based on the notch stress concept is proposed.