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EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Strasbourg, 15.9.2026 COM(2026) 992 final

2026/0274 (COD)

Proposal for a

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

on portability of qualifications and skills and amending Regulation (EU) 2018/1724

("Skills Portabilty Act")

{SEC(2026) 992 final} - {SWD(2026) 992 final} - {SWD(2026) 993 final} -

{SWD(2026) 994 final}

(Text with EEA relevance)

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

1. CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL

• Reasons for and objectives of the proposal

The free movement of workers is one of the fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Treaties,

underpinning the ability of Union citizens to pursue professional and economic activities

across the Union. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union recognises the

right to engage in work and to pursue a freely chosen or accepted occupation, as well as the

freedom of Union citizens to seek employment, work, exercise the right of establishment and

provide services in any Member State. The freedom of movement is further supported by the

European Pillar of Social Rights, proclaimed in 2017, whose first chapter on equal

opportunities and access to the labour market emphasises the importance of skills and

employability.

However, as the report by Enrico Letta highlighted, free movement of people has been and

remains the least developed of the four freedoms of the Single Market. One of the reasons is

the limited portability of qualifications and skills. Removing these barriers can facilitate

mobility in all directions, including for people who wish to return to their home regions and

put the qualifications, skills and experience acquired elsewhere to use there. This broader

perspective on mobility also reflects the Commission’s political commitment to the Right to

Stay: ensuring that people have genuine opportunities to build their future in the places they

call home, while preserving their freedom to move and return.

Imperfect information on the level and content of qualifications and skills obtained in other

Member States is a key driver of these limitations: the signalling value of such qualifications

is generally perceived as lower compared to national qualifications owing to the lack of

common data and technical standards and varying level of information available to describe

them. Another barrier to portability is the continued reliance on paper-based attestations of

qualifications. As technology advances, the risk of fraud increasingly undermines trust in

qualification attestations, especially non-national ones. As Member States are progressively

digitalising their qualifications, a coordinated approach with regard to digitalisation and the

use of digital wallets is required to ensure interoperability and reduce barriers for workers to

transmit and/or for employers to receive and read a digital qualification.

The Enrico Letta and Mario Draghi reports on the future of the Single Market and Europe’s

competitiveness stress the urgency of accelerating this digital transformation and removing

barriers that impede the Single Market’s dynamism. Indeed, the limited portability of

qualifications and skills leads to missed opportunities for workers, businesses and the

economy as a whole, as valuable skills remain under-used and undervalued.

Over‑qualification and under‑utilisation of skills are especially pronounced among mobile EU

workers and third‑country nationals. This is particularly damaging in a context of widespread

skilled labour shortages. Strategic sectors – ranging from healthcare and ICT to construction,

energy, transport and tourism – struggle to find the talent they need to master the green and

digital transitions, and these shortages are most acutely felt by SMEs. Moreover, persistent

skills shortages at regional and local levels are being further aggravated by the out-migration

of young people from already sparsely populated or depopulating areas. Conversely, return

mobility can benefit regions of origin when people bring back qualifications, professional

experience and knowledge acquired elsewhere in the Union. Making such mobility easier can

therefore also contribute to territorial cohesion and help regions benefit more fully from the

opportunities offered by the Single Market.

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The European Commission committed to putting forward a Skills Portability Initiative to

“ensure a skill acquired in one country is recognised in another”, in line with its political

guidelines and Communication of March 2025 on a Union of Skills.

The European Council Conclusions of 19 March 2026 have called for faster action, urging for

measures to “enhance free movement of workers by improving mutual recognition of

professional qualifications and strengthening the portability of qualifications and skills across

national borders, including through digitalisation and interoperability, on the basis of a

Commission proposal to be presented by autumn 2026.” On 24 April 2026, the European

institutions agreed on a 'One Europe, One Market' roadmap with a commitment for concrete

actions by the end of 2027, of which the Skills Portability Initiative is a priority deliverable

aiming to support Europe’s competitiveness and foster a more integrated Single Market.

The Skills Portability Initiative is part of the Fair Labour Mobility package1. It aims to

effectively safeguard the right to free movement, allowing workers to move where their

qualifications are most valued and empowering European businesses to recruit the skilled

labour force they need to remain competitive in the global economy. It can also facilitate

mobility back to regions of origin, by ensuring that qualifications and skills acquired

elsewhere are understood and recognised when people return.

This proposal aims to give workers, employers and national authorities across the EU access

to reliable and comparable information on qualifications and skills issued within the Union,

and to enable them to use interoperable and verifiable digital attestations of qualifications and

skills. In doing so, they will have access to simplified, effective and cost-efficient means to

carry, prove, read, understand and compare qualifications and skills obtained in another

Member State. In this way, it supports better matching of jobs and workers and helps reduce

under-utilisation of skills across the EU. In addition, more comparable information is

expected to promote fairness and quality jobs for EU mobile workers by ensuring their

qualifications are better understood and recognised whether they move to another Member

State or return to their country of origin..

The Skills Portability Initiative further includes a proposal for the revision of the Professional

Qualifications Directive and a proposal for a directive on the recognition of qualifications of

third country nationals.

• Consistency with existing policy provisions in the policy area

The proposal supports the freedom of movement of workers provided for in Article 45 TFEU

and Regulation (EU) No 492/2011. It also supports the objectives of simplifying

administrative procedures for individuals, businesses and national authorities: less red tape,

more trust, and better enforcement.

The proposal is fully consistent with the broader policy framework and builds on existing

European legislation, recommendations and tools.

The proposal is fully coherent with the EU's broader digitalisation agenda, including the EU

Digital Decade, the Single Market Strategy and the Interoperable Europe Act. With regard to

digital qualification attestations, it relies on the EU Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet, as part of

the e-IDAS Regulation (Regulation (EU) No 910/2014), for qualifications up to ten years of

age, while it leverages the Single Digital Gateway and the Once Only Technical System for

older qualifications (in line with Regulation (EU) 2018/1724) to verify information before

issuing a digital qualification into the EUDI Wallet.

1 For more context, see CWP 2026 Commission work programme 2026 - European Commission,

https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/strategy-documents/commission-work-

programme/commission-work-programme-2026_en

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The proposal reinforces the objectives of the European Qualifications Framework Council

Recommendation of 22 May 2017 to enhance the transparency, comparability and portability

of qualifications in Europe. It is also fully coherent with the Council Recommendation of 16

June 2022 on a common European approach to micro-credentials, which calls for micro-

credentials to be included in National Qualifications Frameworks, and to consider European

Qualifications Framework (EQF) principles, such as on learning outcomes and quality

assurance. The proposal builds on the Europass framework (Decision (EU) 2018/646), with

the Europass platform serving as the official platform for information on the EQF. This

platform contains information on qualifications and qualifications frameworks and

interconnects information on qualifications from National Qualifications Frameworks

registers and databases.

The proposal is fully consistent with the European classification on Skills, Competences,

Occupations and Qualifications (ESCO), which works as a dictionary of occupations and

skills on the labour market. Adding ESCO skills to learning outcomes has the potential to

further improve the transparency of qualifications when their information is made available

online and used in digital qualification attestations.

The proposal covers all professions – both regulated and non-regulated - and thus

complements the Professional Qualifications Directive (PQD) (2005/36/EC). The proposal is

also a critical enabler for the Skills Portability Initiative’s Action 2 on improving cross-border

recognition procedures under PQD for access to regulated professions, as the availability of

interoperable and verifiable digital qualification attestations will allow for faster and less

burdensome cross-border recognition processes under the PQD. In addition, the proposal also

eases barriers in non-regulated professions, for which recognition procedures are not legally

necessary, by making available comparable, reliable, interoperable and verifiable digitalised

information on qualifications.

The proposal is also consistent with Regulation (EU) No 492/2011 of 5 April 2011 on

freedom of movement for workers within the Union, laying down rules for employment, equal

treatment and workers’ families. More specifically, it supports the rights of any national of a

Member State to seek employment in another Member State in line with the relevant

regulations applicable to national workers and aims to remove barriers related to

qualifications and skills that may pose obstacles to the freedom of movement.

In addition, initiatives, such as European individual cybersecurity skills attestations proposed

under the Cybersecurity Act 2, are consistent and contribute to the objectives of the Skills

Portability Initiative.

• Consistency with other Union policies

The proposal is part of the Fair Labour Mobility Package which contains proposals to

guarantee fair workers’ rights, regardless of where they choose to live and work in Europe.

Next to the Skills Portability Proposals the Fair Labour Mobility Package includes a proposal

for a regulation establishing a European Social Security Pass and a proposal for a regulation

to strengthen the European Labour Authority (ELA).

It is a key deliverable of the “One Europe, One Market” roadmap to “strengthen the

portability of qualifications and skills across national borders, including through digitalisation

and interoperability”. It is in line with the simplification agenda of the European Commission

by aiming at faster, less burdensome, user centric and digital-by-default processes for workers

moving between Member States. It is also consistent with the EU Competitiveness Compass,

which identifies retaining and mobilising talent across the EU as key to boosting the Union’s

competitive standing, by ensuring that qualifications and skills acquired in one Member State

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are readily usable in another. It further contributes to the European Pillar of Social Rights,

notably its principles on fair access to employment and support for labour mobility, and the

Single Market Strategy, which aim to remove remaining barriers to companies and workers

operating across the EU.

The proposal is also consistent with the Union of Equality strategies, which highlighted the

fair portability and transparent recognition of qualifications and skills as a critical driver for

achieving true equal opportunity and non-discrimination across the Single Market.

Finally the proposal is in line with the obligations under the United Nations Convention on

the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and in particular Article 9 of that Convention, as well

as the requirement in Article 9(1) of Directive (EU) 2024/2841, under which digital

qualification attestations should be accessible for persons with disabilities.

2. LEGAL BASIS, SUBSIDIARITY AND PROPORTIONALITY

• Legal basis

The proposal is based on Article 46 TFEU which provide the legal basis for adopting

measures to facilitate the free movement of workers. Pursuant to Article 46 TFEU, the

European Parliament and the Council are mandated to adopt the necessary measures to bring

about the freedom of movement for workers. This includes, inter alia, the systematic removal

of administrative and legislative obstacles hindering the search, application for, and take-up of

employment across Member States (Article 46(b) TFEU), as well as setting up appropriate

mechanism to bring offers of employment into touch with applications for employment and

facilitating the balance between supply and demand and level of employment in the various

regions and industries (Article 46(d) TFEU).

• Subsidiarity (for non-exclusive competence)

Barriers related to qualifications and skills are one factor hindering individuals to make full

use of their free movement rights and to work in another Member State. They have a negative

impact on the functioning of the Single Market by creating costs for businesses and

individuals and indirectly affecting the potential of labour mobility in addressing labour

shortages in the EU. Without improved information on qualifications and skills obtained in

other Member States and tools facilitating effectively the portability of such qualifications and

skills, businesses and workers face difficulties when considering opportunities across the EU.

Given the cross-border nature of these problems, effective solutions are best pursued at the

EU level to allow for interoperability across Member States instead of 27 different national

frameworks and systems that would create fragmentation, increase administrative burdens and

even worsen the challenges related to cross-border use and recognition of digital qualification

attestations.

The added value of ensuring availability of verifiable and interoperable digitalised

information on qualifications and skills obtained in the EU is that workers will be equipped

with digital qualification attestations that are easily accessible to them as holders of

qualifications and to their potential employers. In the case of regulated professions, in

accordance with Directive 2005/36/EC, they will also be accessible to the recognition

authorities in Member States. Employers will also have access to tools enabling better

understanding and comparison of qualifications issued in different Member States. A common

legal and technical framework underpinning the digitalisation of qualifications will allow

digital qualification attestations issued in another Member State to become more trustworthy

and easier to verify. Digital qualification attestations issued in a standardised manner will be

understood across the EU. This in turn can make job applications less cumbersome and

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facilitate smoother access to jobs in all Member States. Overall, the expected added value of

this action will be greater portability of qualifications and skills.

This Regulation does not harmonise the content of education and training, the organisations of

education and training systems or the conditions of access to professions. It regulates the

format, authenticity and verifiability of digital attestations of qualifications and conditions for

the provision of comparable information on qualifications awarded under national systems,

leaving the design of those systems and the substance of the qualifications to the Member

States.

The proposal will help sustain and further enhance the momentum in advancing European

digital policies and transforming the EU into a modern, resource-efficient and competitive

economy. An EU action will help accelerate the digitalisation of public services on cross-

border interoperability, contribute to a well-functioning, integrated digital single market,

ultimately benefitting European competitiveness. By building on and reinforcing key digital

EU initiatives - such as the Single Digital Gateway Regulation (SDGR), the Once Only

Technical System (OOTS), and the EUDI framework – an EU action will maximise the

impact of prior EU investments, being part of a coherent and cohesive EU digital landscape

that serves the interest of the EU and its Member States. EU-level action at this stage would

help ensure coordinated and interoperable solutions across Member States, while ensuring

alignment with existing EU initiatives. Acting now would also help maximise the benefits of

these initiatives and avoid additional costs and complexity that could arise from having to

align or replace divergent solutions at a later stage.

• Proportionality

The proposal is necessary and proportionate to the objective of facilitating the portability of

qualifications and skills between Member States, ensuring that they have a similar signalling

value across the Union, meaning that they provide a consistent and reliable indication of the

qualifications and skills held by an individual, regardless of the Member State in which they

were issued. It does so by establishing common rules on and standards for the digitalisation of

qualifications and the access to reliable and comparable information on qualifications and

skills issued in the EU. Without such common requirements, Member States would continue

to rely on paper-based or fragmented digital systems when issuing qualifications and

employers (and any other interested party) would continue to have difficulties in assessing the

authenticity of and understanding qualifications from other Member States.

This Regulation confers on a digital qualification attestation the same evidentiary value as

corresponding paper attestation and supports comparability of qualifications awarded under

national systems. It does not confer equivalence between qualifications, nor any right of

recognition of or access to a regulated profession, which continue to be governed by Directive

2005/36.

The proposal does not go beyond what is necessary to achieve the objectives of ensuring an

improved portability of qualifications and skills in the context of the freedom of movement of

workers. The objective of achieving a quick impact was carefully balanced against the

financial and administrative burden created for public administrations, the action focuses on

the most relevant segment of qualifications and takes a pragmatic approach to data fields

required. While newly issued qualifications would be digitalised into the EUDI Wallets by

default, recent qualifications, i.e. those issued in the past ten years, would be digitalised

without delay only on demand for the purpose of employment in another Member State.

Preparing the infrastructure for digitalisation of recent qualification attestations requires a

certain upfront investment but strongly reduces the recurring cost for issuance later on. Data

availability is expected to be high for this ten-year period since it coincides with the time after

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adoption of the EQF Recommendation in which archives tend to be digital already. 25 EU

Member States have their NQFs referenced to the EQF for ten years or more. Today, already

14 EU Member States share information on qualifications with the Europass platform. In

terms of policy impact, it allows a quick rollout for the younger cohorts who tend to change

jobs most frequently and are most likely to move to another EU country. This is also the age

group with still comparatively short work experience, for which qualifications generally

matter more in the recruitment process than for older cohorts. For qualifications obtained

more than 10 years ago, more time is given: for them, digital qualification attestations need to

be issued upon demand in a reasonable timeframe i.e. maximum two weeks. In addition, for

older qualifications, the information needs can be adapted so that Member States can provide

the necessary information, with many fields being optional. Overall, only minimum common

requirements are provided for digital qualification attestations. By relying on existing EU

frameworks, notably the EUDI framework and existing transparency tools such as the EQF,

the proposal employs a cost-effective strategy, minimising costs and optimising resources

efficiently.

• Choice of the instrument

Article 26(2) TFEU provides that the internal market comprises an area without internal

frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured. For

nationals of a Member State, in accordance with Article 45 TFEU, this includes a right to

accept offers of employment in a Member State other than the one in which they have

obtained their qualifications or skills. Article 46 TFEU lays down that directives or

regulations shall be issued in an ordinary legislative procedure to set out the measures

required to bring about freedom of movement for workers.

Given the cross-border nature of the problem and the need to prevent regulatory

fragmentation, a regulation is the most suitable, effective and proportionate legal instrument

to achieve the defined policy objectives, namely to establish a single framework and set of

standards for digital qualification attestations which are understood and trusted across the

Union. Having a unified and single set of rules and formats will enable digital qualification

attestations to represent qualifications that are comparable and verifiable in all Member

States, irrespective of their awarding origins. As a directly applicable act, it also ensures

uniform application across Member States and provides legal certainty and effectiveness. This

also aligns with the identified legal basis.

3. RESULTS OF EX-POST EVALUATIONS, STAKEHOLDER

CONSULTATIONS AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS

• Ex-post evaluations/fitness checks of existing legislation

There is no existing EU legislation specifically addressing the digitalisation of qualifications,

and therefore no ex-post evaluation or fitness check of such legislation exists. The Skills

Portability Act is a new initiative. It builds on existing tools such as the European

Qualifications Framework and the Europass Framework, which were subject of

evaluations2 in 2024.

2 COM/2024/135 final - Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the

implementation and impact of Decision (EU) 2018/646 of the European Parliament and of the Council

of 18 April 2018 on a common framework for the provision of better services for skills and

qualifications (Europass) and SWD(2024)142 - Commission Staff Working Document Executive

Summary of the Evaluation of the Council Recommendation of 22 May 2017 on the European

Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning

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The European Qualifications Framework was found to be well-suited to promote the

transparency, comparability and portability of qualifications across the EU. All 27 Member

States have referenced their National Qualifications Frameworks (NQFs) or systems to the

EQF. However, ensuring that National Qualifications Frameworks and databases and registers

of qualifications are updated and connected to the Europass platform is mentioned as an area

of improvement.

Europass was found to facilitate mobility for work and study in the EU, by presenting

knowledge, skills, and competences in a standardised format. However, the evaluation points

out that further efforts are needed in developing qualification and learning opportunity

databases and registers that should link to the Europass platform via the Qualification Dataset

Register.

• Stakeholder consultations

A comprehensive consultation took place to gather a broad and representative evidence base

on the portability of qualifications and skills across EU countries. The evidence collected

through these activities supported the problem definition and enabled the assessment of the

feasibility, suitability and potential impacts of selected policy measures.

This comprehensive evidence-gathering exercise included the following activities:

• An open public consultation was run between 5 December 2025 and 27 February

2026 resulting in 785 responses;

• A call for Evidence ran in parallel to the public consultation and 235 responses to the

call for evidence, including 126 position papers;

• Targeted consultations were conducted in the context of this initiative between

October 2025 and April 2026;

• A social partner hearing on 23 January 2026;

• A dedicated survey of SMEs was carried out during February and March of 2026

(159 responses);

• A survey of issuers of qualifications was conducted (574 replies);

• A total of 94 stakeholder interviews were carried out by an external study (covering

140 stakeholders);

• Discussions in focus groups (8 in total), including 88 participants;

• Expert workshops (4 in total), including 41 participants;

• A survey among National Academic Recognition Information Centres was carried

out in April 2026 (16 responses);

• A survey of the EQF Advisory Group (14 responses);

• A survey among EQF National Contact Points took place during March-April 2026

(21 responses);

• Legal reports from the MoveS network on free movement of workers (All 27

Member States covered);

• Eurofound reports on collective agreements in the Member States (20 Member States

covered).

These consultations revealed broad support for digitalisation of qualification attestations,

including a broad consensus on the use of the EUDI Wallets as the primary digital solution.

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These positions, and the Commission's assessment of how they have been reflected in the

preferred option, are summarised in Annex 2 (Stakeholder consultation synopsis report) of the

Impact Assessment.

• Collection and use of expertise

An external contractor assisted the Commission in conducting a study to support the work on

the Impact Assessment between September 2025 and August 2026. An Inter-Service Steering

Group, comprising more than twenty Commission services including the Legal Service, met

three times to steer the preparation of the Skills Portability Initiative.

• Impact assessment

The proposal for a Regulation is accompanied by an impact assessment report3, a draft of

which was submitted to the Regulatory Scrutiny Board (RSB) on 17 June 2026.

Recommendations received from the RSB in its negative opinion of 15 July 2026 were

addressed, notably by removing the obligation to refer to EQF levels in labour market

contexts and the legal presumption of equivalence of qualifications of the same level, as at

this stage it is not possible to quantify the extent of barriers related to equivalence of

qualification levels in non-regulated professions. Moreover, the problem definition and

intervention logic have been reinforced by expanding the evidence base, integrating the

findings of the EQF and Europass evaluations, strengthening the analysis of labour market

failures and better substantiating the role of qualification portability in supporting worker

mobility. The dynamic baseline has been expanded to better reflect existing EU tools, ongoing

digital initiatives and technological developments, while the description of the policy

measures has been made more operational and implementation-oriented. Finally, the report

provides a stronger assessment of coherence with the other actions of the Skills Portability

Initiative and with relevant EU initiatives in the fields of skills, qualifications, digital identity

and interoperability, demonstrating more clearly how the preferred option builds on existing

EU frameworks and projects.

Following the aforementioned adjustments, the RSB issued a positive opinion with

reservations on 24 August 2026. To address the remaining reservations, the problems

identified in the impact assessment and the analysis of the impacts of the various options were

substantiated further. Both opinions of the RSB are available at [add link at publication].

Overall, the impact assessment considered several legislative Policy Options for the two

Specific Objectives, namely Specific Objective 1: By the end of the transition period, labour

market actors have access to reliable and comparable information on qualifications and skills

issued in the EU. Specific Objective 2: By the end of the transition period, labour market

actors in the EU can benefit from interoperable and verifiable digital attestations of

qualifications and skills.

The following policy options were assessed for the Specific Objectives:

• Policy Option 1: digitalisation with the EUDI Wallets of all new NQF qualifications

(EQF levels 2-8) and all other new skills documents. For past qualifications,

digitalisation with the EUDI Wallets upon request, within a reasonable timeframe

and limited for the purpose of employment in another Member State;

(3) SWD (2026) 993, IMPACT ASSESSMENT REPORT Accompanying the document PROPOSAL FOR

A REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL ON PORTABILITY

OF QUALIFICATIONS AND SKILLS AND AMENDING REGULATION (EU) 2018/1724

(“SKILLS PORTABILITY ACT”).

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• Policy Option 2: digitalisation with the EUDI Wallets of all new NQF qualifications

(EQF levels 2-8). For past qualifications, digitalisation with the EUDI Wallets upon

request and limited for the purpose of employment in another Member State. Those

qualifications awarded in the past 10 years to be issued without delay, and those

older than 10 years, within a reasonable timeframe;

• Policy Option 3: digitalisation with the Europass Wallet of all new NQF

qualifications (EQF levels 2-8) and all other new skills documents. For past

qualifications, digitalisation with the Europass Wallet upon request, within a

reasonable timeframe and limited for the purpose of employment in another Member

State.

All options include a common set of measures to support interoperability and trust. All

options include the same approach to NQFs and the EQF and make it mandatory for Member

States to have a comprehensive NQF in place, and for their NQFs to be clearly and regularly

referenced to the EQF. All options ensure the legal value of digital qualification attestations,

requirements to Member States to have up to date national databases of qualifications,

awarding bodies and accreditation, connected with Europass. All options ensure that the

Europass comparison tool is made more effective and user-friendly to facilitate the

comparison of specific national qualifications. All options share the same trust framework to

ensure verifiability and comparability of digital attestations by employers and other users. All

options are also accompanied by possible non-legislative supporting measures, including

awareness-raising activities, continued support to existing EU tools and encouragement to

make use of available EU funding.

The impact assessment resulted in the choice of the Policy Option 2 as the preferred way

forward to achieve the specific objectives 1 and 2 in an effective and efficient way.

Policy Option 2 is most effective in achieving comparable, reliable, interoperable and

verifiable digitalised information on qualifications and skills obtained in the EU. It ensures a

common information and technical standard for all new NQF qualifications and those issued

in the past 10 years, to facilitate comparison and verification. It is the option with the most

optimal efficiency balance, concentrating digitalisation where labour market impact is greatest

and ensuring that, as part of the NQF, the digitalised qualifications are quality assured by the

Member States.

Policy Option 2 supports also SPI Action 2 and facilitates in general the verification and

understanding of qualifications issued in the EU in the context of both regulated and non-

regulated professions. Together, they form a coherent and functional system for qualifications

and skills portability across the EU's labour market.

• Regulatory fitness and simplification

As shown in the consultation, employers do not understand qualifications from other Member

States well enough to assess what the holder truly knows or is able to do – i.e. the

qualification level and content 4. Confidence of SMEs falls significantly when assessing

qualifications from other EU countries, compared to from their own country. In the SME

Survey, the most frequently cited challenge when assessing qualifications from other EU

countries by SMEs, was insufficient familiarity with foreign education systems, difficulty

verifying the authenticity of qualifications and language barriers. Similarly, the Europass

evaluation5 pointed out that verifying the authenticity of a candidate’s qualifications is very

4 SPI Consultation Social Partners; Expert workshop: Recognition of VET qualifications for the purpose

of worker mobility. 5 EUR-Lex - 52024SC0071 - EN - EUR-Lex

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important for employers when hiring. At the same time, 59% of the employers consider the

process of verifying the authenticity of candidates’ qualifications or experience to be often or

sometimes difficult and slightly more than half of them (54%) consider receiving digitally

certified documents proving qualifications to be important.

This initiative aims to bring simplification for employers and workers by making

qualifications instantly verifiable for labour market actors across the Single Market, and by

facilitating the comparison of the level and content of qualifications issued in the EU without

any cost. It aims to do so by building on existing tools such as the European Qualifications

Framework, Europass and the European Digital Identity Wallet, and through setting common

standards for digital attestations of qualifications to be comparable, reliable, interoperable and

verifiable. This will facilitate recruitment procedures involving cross-border applications, and

make systems for issuing digital qualification attestations interoperable from the start through

a coordinated approach. The availability of the Europass platform centralising reliable and

comparable information will reduce the need for multiple efforts at Member State level to

make available and keep track of information on each others’ NQFs.

Moreover, the proposal contributes to the objectives of regulatory fitness and is consistent

with the ‘Digital check’. It fully aligns with core e-government principles:

i.) digital by default, promoting digital procedures as preferred choice, while still offering

alternative options,

ii.) once-only principle, reducing redundant data submission,

iii.) interoperability by design, facilitating cross-border recognition and verification of

documents as well as cross-border data exchange, and reducing fragmentation,

iv.) user-centricity, putting people at the centre and ensuring predictable processing times,

v.) inclusiveness and accessibility, guaranteeing equal access to all, notably persons with

disabilities, elderly people and individuals with limited digital skills by still offering the

option of paper documents,

vi.) trustworthiness and security, promoting the protection of personal data and high security

standards

vii.) cross-border by default, ensuring interoperability and reducing/preventing unnecessary

barriers to mobility.

• Fundamental rights

This proposal respects fundamental rights and the principles recognised by the Charter of

Fundamental Rights of the European Union including inter alia, the right to private and family

life, the right to protection of personal data, the freedom to conduct a business, the right to a

high level of human health protection, the right to good administration and the right to an

effective remedy.

The proposal is expected to have a positive impact on labour mobility and employment rights

(Articles 15 and 45 of the EU Charter), and reduced administrative barriers to portability of

qualifications, aligning with European Pillar of Social Rights Principle 4 (active employment

support).

The proposed Regulation includes the processing of personal data. It should therefore ensure

that such processing complies with the requirements of the General Data Protection

Regulation (GDPR) and the fundamental rights guaranteed in the Charter, notably the rights

to privacy and data protection under Articles 7 and 8, and in the TFEU, especially Article 16

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on the right to the protection of personal data. The preferred option is expected to ensure a

high-level of security and data protection by giving users control, minimising data exposure,

guaranteeing selective disclosure, and ensuring GDPR-compliant, secure, and transparent

handling of personal data when using EUDI Wallets and benefitting from legal safeguards

when relying on enhanced physical documents.

4. BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS

The proposal entails budgetary implications for the Union, principally linked to the

development and improvement of a comparison tool in Europass (Article 8), the development

of a reference software for the digital verification tool (Recital 18; Article 7); the back office

tool to support the Member States sharing information on qualifications, accreditation and

awarding bodies with Europass (Articles 3 and 8); possible support to Member States in their

implementation of issuance system for the digital qualification attestations (Articles 3, 4, 6, 7,

8, 9); and the Secretariat of the Qualifications Digitalisation Group (Article 11).

The estimated budgetary impact for 2028 and beyond does not pre-judge the next Multiannual

Financial Framework. The source of financing and scope of Union financial commitment in

the post-2027 period remain subject to the outcome of interinstitutional negotiations on the

MFF 2028-2034 and thereafter shall be determined through the annual budgetary procedure.

5. OTHER ELEMENTS

• Implementation plans and monitoring, evaluation and reporting arrangements

A group on digitalisation of qualifications (the ‘Qualifications Digitalisation Group’) is

established to facilitate cross-border cooperation and exchange of information on issues

related to the implementation of this Regulations, notably trust services, European Digital

Identity Wallets, notified electronic identification schemes, semantic model and digital

qualification attestations, and to take all necessary steps to ensure that the information

exchanged is up-to-date. A committee within the meaning of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011

shall assist the Commission in the preparation of the implementing acts under an examination

procedure in accordance with Article 5 of that Regulation.

A draft monitoring framework has been designed to monitor the implementation and evaluate

the initiative’s impact, ensuring that it remains fit for purpose and achieve the intended

objectives. This framework will undergo further refinement based on the ultimate legal

specifications and implementation schedule. Progress will be tracked through a set of output,

result, and impact indicators linked to the operational objectives. The Commission, in close

cooperation with Member States, will regularly collect and analyse data - leveraging existing

reporting mechanisms - to identify implementation gaps, assess the efficiency of the measure,

and provide the necessary evidence base for a future evaluation.

• Detailed explanation of the specific provisions of the proposal

Article 1 defines the subject matter and sets out the rules that will be laid down for skills

portability, as well as which elements of governance will be addressed.

Article 2 sets out the definitions of the main concepts used in the proposed Regulation to

facilitate uniform interpretation and application.

Article 3 sets out the trust framework for digital qualification attestations, which should be

retrievable electronically by holders of qualifications. They are to be issued within European

Digital Identity Wallets as qualified electronic attestations of attributes or as electronic

attestations of attributes issued by or on behalf of a public sector body responsible for an

EN 12 EN

authentic source. The article also sets out that Member States shall communicate lists of the

awarding bodies, accreditations and qualifications included in their National Qualifications

Frameworks to the Commission. The article empowers the Commission to adopt

implementing acts laying down detailed provisions concerning the agreed common language;

formats and protocols for the issuance of digital qualification attestations across the Union;

and the formats of and transfer protocols for lists of awarding bodies, accreditations and

qualifications included in national qualifications frameworks in accordance with the

examination procedure referred to in Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011.

Article 4 lays down that Member States shall issue digital qualification attestations, free of

charge for the holders. It also lays down the data requirements for digital qualification

attestations, the fact that they shall be recognised as evidencing qualification awarded to the

holders and be valid across the Union. It further specifies that digital qualification attestations

are issued as the default format for evidencing qualifications which are quality assured as a

part of a Member State’s national qualifications framework; and have been awarded after the

date of entry into force of this Regulation minus 10 years. Member States may limit the

issuance of digital qualification attestations for qualifications awarded during the last 10

years to the cases in which the qualification holder proves the purpose of pursuit of

employment in another Member State. Member States can also issue digital qualification

attestations before that reference date. It finally empowers the Commission to adopt delegated

acts to take account of technical, operational or scientific developments.

Article 5 sets out conditions for the issuance of digital qualification attestations. It states that

holders may request a digital qualification attestation for qualifications awarded to them,

which shall be issued to their European Digital Identity Wallets upon the qualification

holder’s request if the qualification comes from an accredited awarding body listed in the

relevant list and the holder has an active European Digital Identity Wallet.

Article 6 sets out the effects of revocation or suspension of a digital qualification attestation,

including the refusal of issuance where the underlying qualification is withdrawn or

suspended, the sharing of revocation information, and the non-recognition of revoked or

suspended attestations for as long as that status remains in place.

Article 7 sets out the framework for verification by relying parties. It requires Member States

to ensure that relying parties can verify digital qualification attestations, including

accreditations and the status of qualifications, while the Commission is to adopt formats and

procedures for verification by relying parties through implementing acts.

Article 8 sets out the requirement for Member States to provide information on qualifications,

awarding bodies and accreditations through the Europass platform. It sets out the

implementing acts the Commission shall adopt on common formats and protocols for

information transfer and delegated acts to take account of technical, operational or scientific

developments. The article also states that Member States shall ensure that their national

qualifications frameworks are referenced to the European Qualifications Framework and that

the referencing is updated when relevant. It further sets out that National Qualifications

Frameworks include all qualifications under a Member State’s jurisdiction, including micro-

credentials to the extent possible. Finally, it states that the Commission shall provide a digital

tool to compare qualifications in Europass.

Article 9 sets out how Member States are to issue, on request, digital qualification attestations

for older qualifications, on the basis of existing evidence verified by an issuer. It empowers

the Commission to adopt delegated acts to amend data fields in digital qualification

attestations. It includes a possibility for the Member States to limit the issuance of digital

EN 13 EN

qualification attestations for older qualifications to the cases in which the qualification holder

proves the purpose of pursuit of employment in another Member State.

Article 10 sets out that Member States shall provide publicly available information on the

implementation of the Regulation.

Article 11 sets out how the Qualifications Digitalisation Group will support and facilitate

Member States’ cross-border cooperation and exchange of information on trust services,

European Digital Identity Wallets, notified electronic identification schemes, semantic model

and digital qualification attestations.

Article 12 specifies the data protection requirements applicable to the processing of personal

data under this Regulation. It shall ensure that personal data processed in the context of this

Regulation shall be retained no longer than 45 years.

Article 13 contains rules on reporting and review. Depending on the outcomes of an

evaluation and review, the Commission shall, if necessary, submit appropriate proposals to

amend the provisions of this Regulation.

Article 14 determines the conditions under which the Commission is empowered to adopt

delegated acts.

Article 15 establishes a committee to assist the Commission in adopting implementing acts in

accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011.

Article 16 specifies that this Regulation will amend Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 in order to

add information under its Annex I and, under its Annex II, a procedure on requesting proof of

qualification.

Article 17 specifies the entry into force [and entry into application] timeline[s].

EN 0 EN

2026/0274 (COD)

Proposal for a

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

on portability of qualifications and skills and amending Regulation (EU) 2018/1724

("Skills Portabilty Act")

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular

Article 46 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national Parliaments,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee6,

Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure,

Whereas:

(1) [POLITICAL CONTEXT] The Single Market is a cornerstone of European integration

and a key driver of the Union’s competitiveness, prosperity and resilience. Its full

potential depends, inter alia, on enabling people to move freely across the Union and

to put their qualifications and skills to use wherever they are needed. Facilitating

mobility contributes to a better allocation of skills across the Union, helps address

labour and skills shortages and strengthens the capacity of the Union economy to

respond to changing economic and demographic needs.

(2) [REG ON FREE MOVEMENT OF WORKERS] Regulation (EU) No 492/2011 of the

European Parliament and of the Council7 provides that any national of a Member

State, irrespective of his or her place of residence, has the right to take up an activity

as an employed person, and to pursue such activity, within the territory of another

Member State in accordance with the provisions laid down by law, regulation or

administrative action governing the employment of nationals of that State and with the

same priority as nationals of that State. Portability of qualifications and skills obtained

in another Member State is necessary for the effective exercise of those rights.

(3) [OBJECTIVE OF THIS REGULATION, Article 1] This Regulation aims

at facilitating portability of qualifications and skills for workers and

employers through improved availability of comparable, reliable, verifiable,

interoperable and digitalised information about qualifications and skills obtained in the

Union.

6 OJ C [...], [...], p. [...] 7 Regulation (EU) No 492/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2011 on

freedom of movement for workers within the Union (OJ L 141, 27.5.2011, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2011/492/oj).

EN 1 EN

(4) [REMAINING BARRIERS] Limited skills portability hinders the full exercise of the

freedom of movement of workers enshrined in the Treaty. Employers struggle to

understand the qualifications and skills acquired in another Member State and may

refrain from tapping into the potential pool of workers of the internal market. For

similar reasons, workers in the Union may be discouraged from seeking employment

in another Member State, or returning to their own Member State, when holding

qualifications obtained in another Member State. Improved portability may therefore

also facilitate return and circular mobility, enabling workers to put skills acquired

elsewhere in the Union to use in their Member State or region of origin. Moreover,

digitalisation of qualifications carried out by Member States individually would lead

to further fragmentation of the labour market. These barriers also adversely affect the

functioning of the internal market, restricting opportunities to address labour

shortages, including in strategic sectors, representing a loss of potential for both

workers and businesses and hampering delivery of critical services, as valuable skills

remain partially unused and not valued. Removing those barriers should support both

the effective exercise of free movement and more balanced territorial development,

while allowing mobility to remain a genuine choice rather than a necessity driven by

the lack of local opportunities.

(5) [DIGITALISATION, Articles 3 and 4] The digital transformation of qualification

systems is essential to enhance the reliability, comparability, interoperability and

verifiability, and thus portability of qualifications across the Union, thereby facilitating

cross-border mobility and labour market integration. It contributes to the removal of

administrative barriers to the free movement of workers, such as those related to the

time, translations and procedures needed to review authenticity of non-interoperable

evidence of qualifications, such as paper or PDF formats. Therefore, a common Union

standard should be established for digital qualification attestations issued within the

Union, and reliable and comparable information on qualifications should be shared by

the Member States and made available to labour market actors.

(6) [FORMATS] Digital qualification attestations should be the default format for

qualifications issued to qualification holders. As Member States need time to prepare

for the issuance of digital qualification attestations, that requirement should apply

from three years after the entry into force of this Regulation. Member States should

however have the possibility to issue digital qualification attestations already before

that date. The issuance of qualifications in other formats than the digital qualification

attestations should remain under the responsibility of the Member States.

(7) [EUDI WALLET, Article 3] A more harmonised approach towards digital

qualification attestations reduces the risks and costs of the current fragmentation due

to the use of divergent national solutions or, in some Member States, the absence of

such digital solutions. Such an approach contributes to strengthening the internal

market by providing harmonised digital qualification attestations across the Union.

The European Digital Identity (EUDI) Framework was created by Regulation (EU) No

910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council8 with an intention to achieve

a shift from the reliance on national digital solutions only, to the provision of

electronic attestations of qualifications that are valid and legally recognised across the

Union. While every Member State is required to provide an EUDI Wallet, the use of it

8 Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on

electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market and

repealing Directive 1999/93/EC (OJ L 257, 28.8.2014, p. 73,

ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2014/910/oj).

EN 2 EN

remains a matter of choice for its nationals or residents. Digital qualification

attestation should be issued upon request of the qualification holders into their EUDI

Wallets and in accordance with Regulation (EU) 910/2014.

(8) [TRUSTED FRAMEWORK FOR DQAs, Article 3] The digital qualification

attestation should be issued under a trusted framework provided in Regulation (EU)

No 910/2014 to ensure its validity across the Union. To this end, the attestations

should only be issued as qualified electronic attestations of attributes issued by a

qualified trust service provider or electronic attestation of attributes issued by or on

behalf of a public sector body responsible for an authentic source.

(9) [ACCREDITATION, Article 2] Any awarding body that is authorised to award

qualifications that are included in national qualifications frameworks should be

considered as accredited awarding bodies in the context of this Regulation. This

includes situations where an awarding body has been designated by law or, in the case

of non-governmental bodies which are awarding qualifications under the specific rules

of national qualifications frameworks regulations or procedures.

(10) [ISSUANCE and COST of DIGITAL QUALIFICATION ATTESTATIONS, Article 4

and 5] Qualification holders should have a right to be issued digital qualification

attestations as long as they have active EUDI Wallets and request the issuance of it.

Digital qualification attestations should be provided free of charge to the holders of

qualifications. To this end, Member States should refrain from establishing any

administrative fees for the issuance of digital qualification attestations to avoid

hampering their use.

(11) [SCOPE of DIGITAL ATTESTATIONS, Article 4] Digital qualification attestations

under this Regulation should be issued for qualifications at levels 2 to 8 of the

European Qualifications Framework, in order to ensure the broad coverage of

qualifications with labour market relevance. European Qualifications Framework level

1 is not part of the scope, as this level, where it is used in national qualifications

frameworks, largely relates to primary/basic education which is of lesser relevance for

the labour market.

(12) [LEGAL VALUE OF DIGITAL QUALIFICATION ATTESTATIONS, Article 4]

Minimum technical and procedural requirements are necessary for the issuance of

digital qualification attestations to ensure that those attestations are interoperable and

that they constitute legally valid evidence of qualifications awarded in the Union.

(13) [STANDARISATION & eIDAS REG, Articles 4 and 5] The use of Union standard

specifications for digital qualification attestations ensures consistency,

interoperability, and cross-border validity of qualifications, while allowing Member

States the flexibility to adapt to national contexts where necessary. Those

specifications should align with good practices in digital credentialing, including

security, data protection, and long-term verifiability, in accordance with Regulation

(EU) No 910/2014 which lays down rules under Article 5f on cross-border reliance of

EUDI Wallet.

(14) [DQAs WITH DIFFERENT SPEEDS] To facilitate free movement of workers and

portability of their qualifications across the Union, digital qualification attestations for

all qualification awarded between [date of entry into force minus 10 years] and [date

of entry into force] should be issued as soon as possible, and in any case no later than

two weeks after request for their issuance and without the need for manual processing.

However, for qualifications awarded in the period between [date of entry into force

EN 3 EN

minus 45 years] and [date of entry into force minus 10 years], the digital qualification

attestations should be issued digitally within a reasonable time allowing Member

States time to gather the data and check the information and no later than two weeks.

Member States should be allowed to limit issuance of digital qualification attestations

for qualifications awarded in the period between [date of entry into force minus 45

years] and [date of entry into force minus 10 years] to cases where the qualification

holder can prove that the purpose for the use of the attestations is pursuit of

employment in another Member State.

(15) [REVOCATION & SUSPENSION, Article 6] In line with their responsibility in the

education and training policies, Member States should be able to apply their national

provisions on withdrawal or suspension of qualifications awarded by entities in their

territory, irrespective of whether those qualifications are evidenced in the form of

physical or digital qualification attestation. Therefore, digital qualification attestations

should reflect the status of the qualifications, such as whether they have been

suspended or revoked. Arrangements for suspension and revocation are without

prejudice to the alert mechanism under Directive 2005/36/EC.

(16) VERIFICATIONS, Article 7] To ensure trust in and interoperability of digital

qualification attestations across the Union, Member States should establish tools

enabling relying parties such as employers and public authorities to verify the

authenticity and validity of a qualification and the accreditation of an awarding body.

To facilitate verification processes and reduce administrative burdens, the Commission

intends to support Member States, including by providing a reference software

supporting secure, efficient and non-discriminatory verification processes. While

employers cannot refuse a digital qualification attestation issued in accordance with

this Regulation as a proof of a qualification or question its authenticity, the Regulation

imposes no obligation on employers to request or verify the authenticity or validity of

a qualification. The Regulation also does not impact employer’s prerogative to assess

the qualification in the selection process and decide on their relevance.

(17) [EQF & NQF, Article 2 and 8] This Regulation covers qualifications included in a

national qualifications framework of a Member State which are awarded by an

awarding bodies established in the Union. The European Qualifications Framework is

a tool established in 20089, and revised in 201710 (the ‘2017 Recommendation’), to

facilitate the comparison between levels and portability of qualifications awarded by

entities from different Member States. Member States have undertaken significant

efforts to develop national qualifications frameworks and to reference them to the

European Qualifications Framework through a structured referencing

process. National qualifications frameworks are evolving to reflect changes in

qualifications, emerging skills, and new forms of learning, including micro-

credentials. Information on all qualifications that form part of such national

qualifications frameworks should be included in qualifications registries and

databases. Updated national qualifications frameworks should be reflected in the

referencing to the European Qualifications Framework that should remain adequate

9 The recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2008 on the

establishment of the European Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning (OJ C 111, 6.5.2008, pp.

1–7). 10 Council recommendation of 22 May 2017 on the European Qualifications Framework for lifelong

learning and repealing the recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April

2008 on the establishment of the European Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning (OJ C 189,

15.6.2017, p. 15).

EN 4 EN

and relevant for workers, employers and other stakeholders. To this end, it is essential

that Member States update the referencing of their national qualifications frameworks

to the European Qualifications Framework when needed.

(18) [INTERLINK WITH THE 2017 RECOMMENDATION] This Regulation should

apply to the use of the European Qualifications Framework in the context of the

exercise by workers of their freedom to move. To ensure legal certainty and

coherence, the levels of the European Qualifications Framework and some of the terms

and definitions laid down in the 2017 Recommendation should be incorporated into

this Regulation for the purposes of the free movement of workers. This does not create

any obligation as to how Member States design their national qualifications

frameworks. As far as the 2017 Recommendation covers the use of the European

Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning, that Recommendation should continue

to provide guidance on matters not governed by this Regulation.

(19) [MICRO-CREDENTIALS, Article 8] Micro-credentials play an increasingly

important role in upskilling and reskilling. The European approach to micro-

credentials was established to support the quality, trust and uptake of micro-

credentials, and to make them more comparable and understandable across borders

and sectors. To facilitate their portability, micro-credentials should be included in

national qualifications frameworks and, to the extent possible, align with the Council

Recommendation of 16 June 202211 on a European approach to micro-credentials for

lifelong learning and employability, fostering consistency, transparency and trust in

those credentials across the Union.

(20) [ESCO, Article 8] Member States should ensure that qualifications that are part of

national databases connected to the Europass platform12 include information on

learning outcomes and to the extent possible use standard information on skills. To

this end, Member States should be allowed to make use of the European Guidelines

for the development and writing of short learning-outcomes-based descriptions of

qualifications13. In addition, Member States should have the possibility to make use of

skills terminology from the European Skills, Competences, Qualifications and

Occupations (ESCO) classification introduced by Regulation (EU) 2016/589 of the

European Parliament and of the Council14 which facilitates the understanding of

qualifications in the labour market and contributes to better job matching.

(21) [EUROPASS, Article 8] To improve the availability of comparable digitalised

information about qualifications for workers and employers, Member States should

ensure that national databases are connected to the Europass platform and include

qualifications that are part of national qualifications frameworks referenced to the

European Qualifications Framework. A comparison tool embedded in the

Europass platform will facilitate an automated comparison of qualifications listed in

national qualifications frameworks referenced to the European Qualifications

11 Council Recommendation of 16 June 2022 on a European approach to micro-credentials for lifelong

learning and employability (OJ C 243, 27.6.2022). 12 Decision (EU) 2018/646 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 April 2018 on a common

framework for the provision of better services for skills and qualifications (Europass) and repealing

Decision No 2241/2004/EC (OJ L 112,2.5.2018, p. 42). 13 https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/publications/6222 14 Regulation (EU) 2016/589 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 April 2016 on a

European network of employment services (EURES), workers' access to mobility services and the

further integration of labour markets, and amending Regulations (EU) No 492/2011 and (EU) No

1296/2013 (OJ L 107, 22.04. 2016 , p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/589/oj).

EN 5 EN

Framework. The comparison generated by the tool is for information purpose,

facilitating the work for social partners, employment services and job applicants.

(22) [TIMELINES, Article 9] For those qualifications and skills which were awarded

before the creation of the national qualifications frameworks and their reference to the

European Qualifications Framework, other means of verifying the authenticity of the

qualifications and accreditations of the awarding bodies are necessary. Therefore, it is

appropriate to provide additional rules and specification with regard to the issuance of

digital qualification attestations for qualifications awarded before [date of entry into

force minus 10 years].

(23) [INFORMATION ON THE REGULATION, Article 10] In order to facilitate the

application of this Regulation and the use of digital qualification attestations, Member

States should make publicly available relevant information. This could

include accessible and reliable sources of guidance on matters governed by this

Regulation, including the issuance of digital qualification attestations and the

availability of comparable information on qualifications.

(24) [MUTUAL ASSISTANCE AND GOVERNANCE, Article 11] Member States should

work together in pursuit of the use and mutual understanding of qualifications awarded

across the Union for the purposes of workers’ mobility. Therefore, a group on

digitalisation of qualifications should be created. This group should consult, on an ad

hoc basis, the European Digital Identity Cooperation Group established under Article

46e of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 regarding questions related to the format of the

attestations or their efficient use in the European Digital Identity Wallets.

(25) [PERSONAL DATA, Article 12] Any processing of personal data for the

implementation of this Regulation should comply with the data protection framework

of the Union, in particular Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and

of the Council15. Personal data processed in the context of this Regulation includes

data such as given name, surname, nationality and national ID as specified in Annexes

II and V to this Regulation. This data should be retained for no longer than necessary

throughout an average length of a work career, namely 45 years. No other personal

data than those specified in those annexes should be processed in the context of this

Regulation. The retention period of 45 years is necessary to ensure access to digital

qualification attestations during the whole span of professional career.

(26) [REPORTING & REVIEW, Article 13] In order to enable the preparation of

meaningful reports on the application of this Regulation, the Commission should

receive from the Member States, on a yearly basis, information regarding the number

of digital qualification attestations issued, renewed, revoked and suspended, the share

of qualifications issued in the form of digital qualification attestations in all

qualifications awarded annually and the number of relying parties registered to access

digital qualification attestations. Every two years, Member States should send reports

to the Commission on the application of this Regulation, which should serve as a basis

for the Commission to review and evaluate its application.

(27) [W3C FORMAT FOR Digital Qualification Attestation, Annex I] In accordance with

the objectives of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014, a number of standards should be

selected to meet the specific requirements on issuance of digital qualification

15 Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the

protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of

such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (OJ L 119, 4.5.2016, p. 1,

ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/679/oj)

EN 6 EN

attestation in the EUDI Wallets. Those standards should reflect established practices

and be widely recognised within the relevant sectors. To this end, as the W3C VCDM

format is used as the reference format for attestations, in particular in the

education and training sector, the European Digital Identity Wallets should also

support the format for the digital qualification attestations when the new EUDI

Wallets standards by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) on

the W3C VCDM format are available.

(28) [DELEGATED ACTS, ARTICLE 14] In order to keep this Regulation in line with

global developments and to follow best practices on the internal market, the power to

adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the

European Union should be delegated to the Commission in respect of amending the

Annexes to this Regulation to take into account technical, operational or scientific

developments. It is of particular importance that the Commission carries out

appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and

that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in

the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making16. In

particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the

European Parliament and the Council should receive all documents at the same time as

Member States' experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of

Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.

(29) [IMPLEMENTING ACTS, Article 5] In order to ensure uniform conditions for the

implementation of this Regulation laying down detailed provisions concerning the

agreed common language, formats and protocols for the issuance of digital

qualification attestations across the Union; and the formats of and transfer protocols

for transfers of the lists of awarding bodies, accreditations and qualifications included

in national qualifications frameworks, and formats and procedures for verifications by

relying parties, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission. Those

powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the

European Parliament and of the Council17.

(30) [SINGLE DIGITAL GATEWAY, Article 16] Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 of the

European Parliament and of the Council18 provides for access to online procedures

relevant for the functioning of the internal market, including for cross-border users. In

order to allow citizens and residents to enjoy directly the benefits of the internal

market without incurring an unnecessary additional administrative burden, Annexes I

and II to that Regulation should be amended accordingly from the date where the

digital qualifications certifications are to be issued in accordance with this Regulation.

(31) [CROSS BORDER DIGITAL PUBLIC SERVICES] The digital qualification

attestation service constitutes a cross-border digital public services within the meaning

16 OJ L 123, 12.5.2016, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/agree_interinstit/2016/512/oj 17 Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011

laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by the Member States

of the Commission's exercise of implementing powers (OJ L 55, 28.2.2011, p. 13,

ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2011/182/oj). 18 Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 2 October 2018

establishing a single digital gateway to provide access to information, to procedures and to assistance

and problem-solving services and amending Regulation (EU) No 1024/2012 (OJ L295 of 21.11.2018, p.

1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2018/1724/oj).

EN 7 EN

of Regulation (EU) 2024/903 of the European Parliament and of the Council19. This

Regulation introduces new binding requirements affecting those cross-border digital

public service and is therefore subject to the obligation laid down in Article 3 of that

Regulation. Accordingly, an interoperability assessment has been carried out and the

resulting report is to be published on the Interoperable Europe Portal.

(32) Since the objectives of this Regulation cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member

States because no Member State alone is able to ensure interoperability of digitalised

information on qualifications but can rather, by reason of effectiveness of the action,

be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with

the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In

accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this

Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives.

(33) In order to allow Member States sufficient time to take the necessary measures

required for the issuance of digital qualification attestations and the tools for

verification thereof, the application of the relevant provisions should be deferred to

[entry into force plus 36 months].

(34) The European Data Protection Supervisor was consulted in accordance with Article

42(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council

and delivered its opinion on [date]20.

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Chapter 1

General provisions

Article 1

Subject-matter

This Regulation lays down the following rules on portability of qualifications and skills for

nationals of Member States moving within the Union for the purpose of employment:

(a) common procedures, standards and models for digital qualification attestations;

(b) rules on the use of the EUDI Wallet for the purpose of digital qualification

attestations;

(c) provision of comparable information on qualifications;

(d) mutual assistance and cooperation between Member States;

(e) provision of information on this Regulation in the Member States.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply:

19 Regulation (EU) 2024/903 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 March 2024 laying

down measures for a high level of public sector interoperability across the Union (Interoperable Europe

Act) (OJ L, 2024/903, 22.3.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/903/oj). 20 OJ C , , p. .

EN 8 EN

(1) 'qualification' means a formal record of an assessment and validation process

which is obtained when a competent body determines that an individual has

achieved learning outcomes to given standards;

(2) 'digital qualification attestation' means an attestation of a qualification in an

electronic form;

(3) 'national qualifications framework' means a qualifications framework that is

developed by a Member State based on learning outcomes and that is related to

the European Qualifications Framework through a referencing process;

(4) 'skill' means the ability to apply knowledge and use know-how to complete

tasks and solve problems;

(5) ‘micro-credentials’ means the record of the learning outcomes that a learner

has acquired following a small volume of learning;

(6) 'European Digital Identity Wallet' or 'EUDI Wallet' means European Digital

Identity Wallet as defined in Article 3, point (42), of Regulation (EU) No

910/2014;

(7) 'accreditation' means a formal decision by a recognised authority which has

verified that an awarding body meets predefined quality standards;

(8) 'awarding body' means an institution or a competent authority in a Member

State which is accredited to award a qualification;

(9) 'issuer' means an issuer of a digital qualification attestation;

(10) ‘relying party’ means relying party as defined in Article 3, point (6), of

Regulation (EU) No 910/2014;

(11) ‘holder’ is a natural person that has been awarded a qualification by an

awarding body.

Chapter 2

Digital Qualification Attestations

Article 3

Digital qualification attestations in the EUDI Wallets

1. Digital qualification attestations shall be issued to the European Digital Identity

Wallets as one of the following:

(a) qualified electronic attestations of attributes in accordance with Article 45d, of

Regulation (EU) No 910/2014;

(b) electronic attestations of attributes issued by or on behalf of a public sector

body responsible for an authentic source in accordance with Article 45f,

of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014.

2. Member States shall designate the following entities as issuers:

(a) qualified trust service providers as defined in Article 3, point (20), of

Regulation (EU) No 910/2014;

(b) public sector bodies responsible for an authentic source within the meaning of

Article 45f, of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 or other entities acting on their

behalf in accordance with that Article.

EN 9 EN

3. The issuers shall issue digital qualification attestations in one or more official

languages of the Union of the Member States’ choice and in an agreed common

language to be established in accordance with paragraph 6.

4. By [date of the entry into force plus 30 months] and in any case no later than the date

of the first issuance of a digital qualification attestation, Member States shall

communicate to the Commission the lists of the awarding bodies, accreditations and

qualifications included in their national qualifications frameworks. Those lists

shall include data covering the period from [date of entry into force minus 10 years]

to the date of submission of the lists. Member States shall inform the Commission of

any changes to those lists without delay. The Commission shall make those lists

available to the public.

5. Member States shall ensure that digital qualification attestations are provided, free of

charge, to holders of qualifications upon their application for such attestations.

6. By [date of entry into force plus 18 months], the Commission shall adopt

implementing acts laying down detailed provisions concerning the agreed common

language; formats and protocols for the issuance of digital qualification attestations

across the Union; and the formats of and transfer protocols for the lists of awarding

bodies, accreditations and qualifications included in national qualifications

frameworks. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the

examination procedure referred to in Article 15(2).

Article 4

Digital qualification attestations

1. Member States shall, within the deadlines laid down in this Article, ensure that

the qualifications awarded under their jurisdictions are evidenced by digital

qualification attestations based on the Union standard specifications laid down in

Annex I.

2. The digital qualification attestations shall comply with the data fields specifications

laid down in Annex II. This requirement shall not apply to digital qualification

attestations issued in accordance with Article 9.

3. Digital qualification attestations shall constitute evidence of qualifications awarded

to the holder and shall be valid across the Union.

4. From [entry into force plus 36 months], Member States shall ensure that digital

qualification attestations are issued without delay upon request of the qualification

holder as the default format for evidencing qualifications which meet the following

conditions:

(a) they are part of a Member State’s national qualifications framework;

(b) they have been awarded after [date of entry into force minus 10 years].

5. For qualifications awarded between [date of entry into force minus 10 years] and

[date of entry into force], Member States shall issue digital qualification attestations

upon request of the qualification holder as soon as possible, and in any case no later

than within two weeks from receipt of that request;

6. By way of derogation from paragraph 4, for qualifications awarded between [date of

entry into force minus 10 years] and [date of entry into force] Member States may

limit the issuance of digital qualification attestations to cases in which the

EN 10 EN

qualification holder provides evidence that the purpose of the use of digital

qualification attestations is the pursuit of employment in another Member State.

7. Member States may issue digital qualification attestations before [date of the entry

into force plus 36 months] for qualifications meeting the conditions laid down in

paragraphs 4 and 5.

8. From [date of entry into force plus 36 months], Member States shall issue

digital qualification attestations evidencing qualifications awarded in the period

between [date of entry into force minus 45 years] and [date of entry into force minus

10 years] in accordance with Article 9.

9. This Article does not apply to qualifications referenced at Level 1 of the framework

set out in Annex III (the ‘European Qualifications Framework’).

10. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts, in accordance with Article

14, to amend Annexes I, II and III to take account of technical, operational or

scientific developments.

Article 5

Issuance of digital qualification attestations

1. The holders of qualifications may request the issuance of a digital qualification

attestation to evidence qualifications awarded to them.

2. Digital qualification attestations shall be issued to the European Digital Identity

Wallets of the holders of qualifications who meet the following conditions:

(a) they have been awarded a qualification from an awarding body accredited to

award such a qualification and listed in the list of awarding bodies referred to

in Article 3(4);

(b) they hold an active European Digital Identity Wallet;

(c) they request the issuance of a digital qualification attestation.

Article 6

Revocation and suspension of a digital qualification attestation

1. The issuer shall refuse to issue a digital qualification attestation to holders whose

qualification is withdrawn or suspended.

2. Where the issuer is informed that the qualification corresponding to a digital

qualification attestation has been withdrawn or suspended by an awarding body or

another competent authority, the issuer shall revoke or suspend that attestation.

Where an issuer revokes or suspends a digital qualification attestation, it shall make

the information of that revocation or suspension accessible to relying parties across

the Union within 24 hours after the receipt of the request for revocation or

suspension.

3. Issuers shall maintain information on revocation and suspension of a digital

qualification attestation and make it available to relying parties.

4. A digital qualification attestation that has been revoked shall not constitute evidence

of qualifications awarded to the holder.

EN 11 EN

5. A suspended digital qualification attestation shall not constitute evidence of

qualifications awarded to the holder for the duration of the suspension.

6. A digital qualification attestation shall be considered as revoked or suspended until

the person concerned complies with any of the following conditions laid down by the

Member State in the territory of which the qualification was awarded:

(a) conditions for the recovery of the qualification;

(b) conditions to be able to apply for a new digital qualification attestation.

Article 7

Verification by relying parties

1. No later than [entry into force plus 36 months], Member States shall provide a digital

verification tool that enables relying parties to verify that:

(i) the digital qualification attestation was issued by an issuer referred to in Article

3(2);

(ii) the qualification evidenced by the digital qualification attestation was awarded

by an awarding body accredited at the time of the award;

(iii) the digital qualification attestation has not been tampered with since it was

issued;

(iv) the digital qualification attestation has not been suspended or revoked.

2. By [date of entry into force plus 18 months], the Commission shall adopt

implementing acts laying down formats and procedures for verification by relying

parties in accordance with paragraph 1. The implementing acts shall be adopted in

accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 15(2).

This Regulation does not oblige relying parties to request or verify digital

qualification attestations.

Article 8

Provision of comparable information on qualifications

1. Member States shall provide information on the qualifications, awarding bodies and

accreditations as referred to in Article 3(4) to the Europass online platform as

follows:

(a) the information shall be presented in the semantic model laid down in point 2

of Annex I;

(b) the minimum data requirements laid down in Annex IV shall be met;

(c) for the description of qualifications, skills terminology from the European

classification of skills and occupations (ESCO) shall be used to the extent

possible.

Member States shall submit updates of the information referred to in the first

subparagraph in real time to the extent possible, and in any case at least each month.

2. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts, in accordance with Article

14, to amend Annex IV to take account of technical, operational or scientific

developments.

EN 12 EN

3. National qualifications frameworks shall include all qualifications awarded under the

jurisdiction of a Member State and be kept up to date. To the extent possible,

Member States shall include micro-credentials in their national qualifications

frameworks.

4. Member States shall use the European Qualifications Framework to reference

national qualifications frameworks or systems and to allow comparison of all types

and levels of qualifications in the Union that are part of national qualifications

frameworks or systems in particular by referencing their qualification levels to levels

of the European Qualifications Framework.

5. Member States shall review and update, when needed, the referencing of the levels of

the national qualifications frameworks or systems to the levels of the European

Qualifications Framework.

6. The Commission shall provide a digital tool to facilitate an

automated comparison of qualifications listed in national qualifications frameworks

referenced to the European Qualifications Framework and make it available through

the Europass platform.

Article 9

Qualifications awarded before digitalisation of qualifications

1. For the qualifications awarded in the period between [date of entry into force minus

45 years] and [date of entry into force minus 10 years], Member States shall ensure

that, upon request of a qualification holder, a digital qualification attestation is issued

within a reasonable time, and in any case no later than within two weeks from the

receipt of the request from the qualification holder, on the basis of existing evidence

verified by the issuer.

2. Member States may limit the issuance of digital qualification attestations in

accordance with paragraph 1 to cases in which a qualification holder provides

evidence that the purpose of the use of the digital qualification attestation is the

pursuit of employment in another Member State.

3. For the purposes of paragraph 1, the issuers may make use of:

(a) verification measures provided by Member States in accordance with Annex

VI to Regulation (EU) No 910/2014;

(b) procedures, assistance and problem-solving services laid down by Regulation

(EU) 2018/1724.

4. For digital qualification attestations to be issued under this Article, Member States

shall use the Union standard specifications for data fields laid down in Annex V.

5. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts, in accordance with Article

14, to amend Annex V to take account of technical, operational or scientific

developments.

Chapter 3

Implementation

Article 10

Information on the digital qualification attestations

EN 13 EN

No later than [date of the entry into force of this Regulation plus 30 months] and in any case

no later than the date of first issuance of digital qualification attestations in accordance with

Article 4(4), each Member State shall make publicly available information concerning digital

qualification attestations .

Article 11

Qualifications Digitalisation Group

1. A group on digitalisation of qualifications (the ‘Qualifications Digitalisation Group’)

is established to facilitate cross-border cooperation and exchange of

information on issues related to the implementation of this Regulation,

including trust services, European Digital Identity Wallet, notified electronic

identification schemes, semantic model and digital qualification attestations, and to

take all necessary steps to ensure that the information exchanged is up-to-date.

2. The Qualifications Digitalisation Group shall be composed of representatives

appointed by each Member State. The Qualifications Digitalisation Group shall be

chaired by the Commission. The Commission shall provide the Qualifications

Digitalisation Group’s Secretariat.

3. The Qualifications Digitalisation Group shall have the following tasks:

(a) support the consistent implementation of this Regulation by facilitating

coordination and project management, the exchange of information and the

promotion of best practices across Member States as well as developing

guidelines to support enforcement;

(b) support the development and operation of electronic data exchanges in

accordance with this Regulation;

(c) provide recommendations to Member States, where appropriate, on further

digitalisation of qualifications.

4. The Qualifications Digitalisation Group shall cooperate, when relevant, with the

European Digital Identity Cooperation Group referred to in Article 46, point (e), of

Regulation (EU) No 910/2014.

5. The Qualifications Digitalisation Group shall adopt its rules of procedure and meet at

least annually until [five years after the entry into force of this Regulation].

Article 12

Data protection

1. Personal data shall be processed in the context of this Regulation only in so far as it

is necessary for issuance and verification of digital qualification attestations in

accordance with Chapter 2.

2. Personal data processed in the context of this Regulation shall be retained no longer

than [45] years.

EN 14 EN

Chapter 4

Final provisions

Article 13

Reporting and review

1. By [[48] months from the date of the entry into force of this Regulation], and every

year thereafter, Member States shall submit to the Commission the following data

concerning the past 12 months:

(a) the number of digital qualification attestations issued, revoked and suspended;

(b) the share of qualifications issued in the form of digital qualification attestations

among all qualifications awarded;

(c) the number of relying parties registered to access digital qualification attestations.

2. By [48] months from the date of the entry into force of this Regulation], and every

two years thereafter, Member States shall submit a report to the Commission on the

application of this Regulation. The report shall include:

(a) the data referred to in paragraph 1;

(b) the information on respective average processing time of a request for issuance

of a digital qualification attestation in accordance with Article 4(5) and Article

9.

Member States shall collect feedback from holders of qualifications, employers,

awarding institutions, issuers, recognition authorities for regulated professions and

other stakeholders necessary for preparing the report as laid down in this paragraph.

3. The information submitted to the Commission in accordance with paragraphs

1 and 2 shall not include personal data.

4. By [the same date as the date of application plus five years], the Commission shall

review and evaluate the application of this Regulation and shall present a report to

that effect to the European Parliament and the Council.

5. Where appropriate, the Commission shall submit relevant legislative proposals.

Article 14

Exercise of the delegation

1. The power to adopt delegated acts is conferred on the Commission subject to the

conditions laid down in this Article.

2. The power to adopt delegated acts referred to in Article 4(10), Article 8(2) and

Article 9(5) shall be conferred on the Commission for an indeterminate period from

[date of entry into force].

3. The delegation of power referred to in Article 4(10), Article 8(2) and Article

9(5) may be revoked at any time by the European Parliament or by the Council. A

decision to revoke shall put an end to the delegation of the power specified in that

decision. It shall take effect the day following the publication of the decision in the

Official Journal of the European Union or at a later date specified therein. It shall not

affect the validity of any delegated acts already in force.

EN 15 EN

4. Before adopting a delegated act, the Commission shall consult experts designated by

each Member State in accordance with the principles laid down in the

Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making.

5. As soon as it adopts a delegated act, the Commission shall notify it simultaneously to

the European Parliament and to the Council.

6. A delegated act adopted pursuant to Article 4(10), Article 8(2) and Article 9(5) shall

enter into force only if no objection has been expressed either by the European

Parliament or by the Council within a period of two months of notification of that act

to the European Parliament and the Council or if, before the expiry of that period, the

European Parliament and the Council have both informed the Commission that they

will not object. That period shall be extended by two months at the initiative of the

European Parliament or of the Council.

Article 15

Committee procedure

1. The Commission shall be assisted by a committee. That committee shall be a

committee within the meaning of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011.

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No

182/2011 shall apply.

Article 16

Amendment of Regulation (EU) 2018/1724

Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 is amended as follows:

(1) In the table of Annex I at the level of 'B. Work and retirement within the Union' as

Area, in the second column, point 3 is replaced by the following: “verification,

comparison and recognition, where appropriate, of qualifications with a view to

pursue employment in another Member States”.

(2) In the table of Annex II at the level of 'Working' as Life Event, the following row is

added in the second and third columns:

‘Requesting proof of qualification for

the issuance of a digital qualification

attestation referred to in Article 9 of

Regulation (EU)…of the European

Parliament and of the Council*

Proof of a qualification

*Regulation (EU) .../... of the European Parliament and of the Council of ... on ... (OJ ...).’.

Article 17

Entry into force [and application]

This Regulation shall enter into force on the [twentieth] day following that of its publication

in the Official Journal of the European Union.

[Articles […] and 16 shall apply from [entry into force plus 36 months].

EN 16 EN

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Strasbourg,

For the European Parliament For the Council

The President The President

[...] [...]

EN 1 EN

LEGISLATIVE FINANCIAL AND DIGITAL STATEMENT

Contents

1. FRAMEWORK OF THE PROPOSAL/INITIATIVE ................................................. 3

1.1. Title of the proposal/initiative ...................................................................................... 3

1.2. Policy area(s) concerned .............................................................................................. 3

1.3. Objective(s) .................................................................................................................. 3

1.3.1. General objective(s) ..................................................................................................... 3

1.3.2. Specific objective(s) ..................................................................................................... 3

1.3.3. Expected result(s) and impact ...................................................................................... 3

1.3.4. Indicators of performance ............................................................................................ 3

1.4. The proposal/initiative relates to: ................................................................................. 4

1.5. Grounds for the proposal/initiative .............................................................................. 4

1.5.1. Requirement(s) to be met in the short or long term including a detailed timeline for

roll-out of the implementation of the initiative ............................................................ 4

1.5.2. Added value of EU involvement (it may result from different factors, e.g.

coordination gains, legal certainty, greater effectiveness or complementarities). For

the purposes of this section 'added value of EU involvement' is the value resulting

from EU action, that is additional to the value that would have been otherwise

created by Member States alone. ................................................................................. 4

1.5.3. Lessons learned from similar experiences in the past .................................................. 4

1.5.4. Compatibility with the multiannual financial framework and possible synergies with

other appropriate instruments ....................................................................................... 5

1.5.5. Assessment of the different available financing options, including scope for

redeployment ................................................................................................................ 5

1.6. Duration of the proposal/initiative and of its financial impact .................................... 6

1.7. Method(s) of budget implementation planned ............................................................. 6

2. MANAGEMENT MEASURES................................................................................... 8

2.1. Monitoring and reporting rules .................................................................................... 8

2.2. Management and control system(s) ............................................................................. 8

2.2.1. Justification of the budget implementation method(s), the funding implementation

mechanism(s), the payment modalities and the control strategy proposed .................. 8

2.2.2. Information concerning the risks identified and the internal control system(s) set up

to mitigate them............................................................................................................ 8

2.2.3. Estimation and justification of the cost-effectiveness of the controls (ratio between

the control costs and the value of the related funds managed), and assessment of the

expected levels of risk of error (at payment & at closure) ........................................... 8

2.3. Measures to prevent fraud and irregularities ................................................................ 9

3. ESTIMATED FINANCIAL IMPACT OF THE PROPOSAL/INITIATIVE ............ 10

EN 2 EN

3.1. Heading(s) of the multiannual financial framework and expenditure budget line(s)

affected ....................................................................................................................... 10

3.2. Estimated financial impact of the proposal on appropriations ................................... 12

3.2.1. Summary of estimated impact on operational appropriations.................................... 12

3.2.1.1. Appropriations from voted budget ............................................................................. 12

3.2.1.2. Appropriations from external assigned revenues ....................................................... 18

3.2.2. Estimated output funded from operational appropriations......................................... 24

3.2.3. Summary of estimated impact on administrative appropriations ............................... 26

3.2.3.1. Appropriations from voted budget .............................................................................. 26

3.2.3.2. Appropriations from external assigned revenues ....................................................... 26

3.2.3.3. Total appropriations ................................................................................................... 26

3.2.4. Estimated requirements of human resources.............................................................. 27

3.2.4.1. Financed from voted budget....................................................................................... 27

3.2.4.2. Financed from external assigned revenues ................................................................ 28

3.2.4.3. Total requirements of human resources ..................................................................... 28

3.2.5. Overview of estimated impact on digital technology-related investments ................ 30

3.2.6. Compatibility with the current multiannual financial framework.............................. 31

3.2.7. Third-party contributions ........................................................................................... 31

3.3. Estimated impact on revenue ..................................................................................... 31

4. DIGITAL DIMENSIONS .......................................................................................... 32

4.1. Requirements of digital relevance .............................................................................. 32

4.2. Data ............................................................................................................................ 33

4.3. Digital solutions ......................................................................................................... 33

4.4. Interoperability assessment ........................................................................................ 34

4.5. Measures to support digital implementation .............................................................. 34

EN 3 EN

1. FRAMEWORK OF THE PROPOSAL/INITIATIVE

1.1. Title of the proposal/initiative

Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on

portability of qualifications and skills and amending Regulation (EU) 2018/1724

(‘Skills Portability Act’)

1.2. Policy area(s) concerned

Internal Market: Free movement of persons, labour mobility

Digitalisation of public administrations

1.3. Objective(s)

1.3.1. General objective(s)

Facilitating portability of qualifications and skills between Member States in the

context of free movement of workers.

Ensuring access to simplified, effective and cost-efficient ways to carry, prove, read,

understand and compare qualifications and skills obtained in another Member State.

1.3.2. Specific objective(s)

Specific objective 1

Ensuring that labour market actors have access to reliable and comparable

information on skills and qualifications issued in the EU.

Specific objective 2

Ensuring that labour market actors in the EU can benefit from interoperable and

verifiable digital attestations of qualifications and skills.

1.3.3. Expected result(s) and impact

Specify the effects which the proposal/initiative should have on the beneficiaries/groups targeted.

The Skills Portability Act is expected to generate benefits by facilitating the

verification and presentation of qualifications across borders, and improving the

transparency and trustworthiness of qualifications through interoperable digital

attestations. Workers will benefit from being able to store and present verifiable

digital attestations through the European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet, reducing

the need for comparability statements of qualifications and making it easier and

cheaper to demonstrate their qualifications when seeking employment in another

Member State. In addition to reducing costs, the proposal is expected to simplify

administrative procedures, shorten the time needed to demonstrate qualifications

across borders and facilitate labour mobility.

Employers will benefit from faster and more reliable verification of qualifications

through EUDI Wallet-compatible digital qualification attestations, easier access to

official and comparable information on qualifications across Member States, and

lower administrative costs when recruiting workers from abroad. The proposal is

expected to be particularly valuable for Small and Medium sized Enterprises

(SMEs)s, which often lack dedicated human resources to assess non-national

qualifications and would gain access to reliable information and automated

verification tools.

EN 4 EN

Awarding bodies and issuers of qualifications will benefit from fewer requests to

verify the authenticity of qualifications, as digital attestations enable automatic

verification by employers and other labour market actors. This is expected to

generate administrative savings, reduce routine administrative workload and allow

institutions to focus resources on their core educational activities.

Indirect benefits can also be expected: as the action contributes positively to the

functioning of the internal market and EU competitiveness: it is expected to facilitate

cross-border hiring with some effect on skills mismatches and improved labour

market allocation.

1.3.4. Indicators of performance

Specify the indicators for monitoring progress and achievements.

The Commission will carry out monitoring in cooperation with the Member States

designed to monitor the implementation and evaluate the initiative’s impact, ensuring

that it remains fit for purpose and achieve the intended objectives. The monitoring

framework will include output, result and impact indicators. It will rely on annual

information submitted by Member States on the number of digital qualification

attestations issued, revoked and suspended, the share of qualifications issued in the

form of digital qualification attestations in all qualifications awarded annually, and

the number of relying parties registered to access digital qualification attestations;

biennial reports by Member States on the application of the Regulation, including

information on the average processing time for requests for issuance of digital

qualification attestations and feedback collected from workers, holders of

qualifications, employers, awarding institutions, issuers, recognition authorities for

regulated professions and other relevant stakeholders.

1.4. The proposal/initiative relates to:

 a new action

a new action following a pilot project / preparatory action21

the extension of an existing action

a merger or redirection of one or more actions towards another/a new action

1.5. Grounds for the proposal/initiative

1.5.1. Requirement(s) to be met in the short or long term including a detailed timeline for

roll-out of the implementation of the initiative

Member States will start the application 36 months from the date of entry into force

of the Regulation. The proposal provides for four implementing acts to be adopted by

the Commission no later than within 18 months from the date of adoption of this

Regulation. The implementing acts will lay down detailed provisions concerning the

agreed common language; interoperability of digital qualification attestation across

the Union; the lists of awarding bodies, accreditations and qualifications included in

national qualifications frameworks for issuing and verifying digital qualification

attestations; and finally the detailed rules on verification processes, verification

21 As referred to in Article 58(2), point (a) or (b) of the Financial Regulation.

EN 5 EN

features and the interface with national systems.

1.5.2. Added value of EU involvement (it may result from different factors, e.g.

coordination gains, legal certainty, greater effectiveness or complementarities). For

the purposes of this section 'added value of EU involvement' is the value resulting

from EU action, that is additional to the value that would have been otherwise

created by Member States alone.

Reasons for action at EU level (ex-ante)

The free movement of people is a fundamental principle of the European Union.

Barriers related to qualifications and skills are one factor hindering individuals to

make full use of their free movement rights and to work in another Member State.

Without improved information on qualifications and skills obtained in other Member

States and tools facilitating effectively the portability of such qualifications and

skills, businesses and workers face difficulties when considering opportunities across

the EU.

Given the cross-border nature of these problems, effective solutions are best pursued

at the EU level to allow for interoperability across Member States instead of 27

different national frameworks and systems, thereby reducing fragmentation and

administrative burdens by facilitating the cross-border use and recognition of digital

qualification attestations.

Expected generated EU added value (ex-post)

The proposal is expected to generate EU added value by enhancing the availability of

digital qualification attestations that are easily accessible to workers as holders of

qualifications and to their potential employers. In the case of regulated professions,

in accordance with Directive 2005/36/EC, they will also be accessible to the

recognition authorities in Member States. Employers will also have access to tools

enabling better understanding and comparison of qualifications issued in different

Member States. A common legal and technical framework underpinning the

digitalisation of qualifications will allow digital qualification attestations issued in

another Member State to become more trustworthy, easier to verify and better

understood across the EU. This in turn can make job applications less cumbersome

and facilitate smoother access to jobs in all Member States. Overall, the expected

added value of this action will be greater portability of qualifications and skills.

1.5.3. Lessons learned from similar experiences in the past

The Skills Portability Act builds on existing tools such as the European

Qualifications Framework and the Europass Framework, which were the subject of

evaluations22 in 2024.

The European Qualifications Framework was found to be well-suited to promote the

transparency, comparability and portability of qualifications across the EU. All 27

Member States have referenced their national qualifications frameworks (NQFs) or

systems to the EQF. However, ensuring that National Qualifications Frameworks and

22 COM/2024/135 final - Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the

implementation and impact of Decision (EU) 2018/646 of the European Parliament and of the Council

of 18 April 2018 on a common framework for the provision of better services for skills and

qualifications (Europass) and SWD(2024)142 - Commission Staff Working Document Executive

Summary of the Evaluation of the Council Recommendation of 22 May 2017 on the European

Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning

EN 6 EN

databases and registers of qualifications are updated and connected to the Europass

platform is mentioned as an area for improvement.

Europass was found to facilitate mobility for work and study in the EU, by

presenting knowledge, skills, and competences in a standardised format. However,

further efforts are needed in developing qualification and learning opportunity

databases and registers that should link to the Europass platform via the

Qualifications Dataset Register.

Moreover, to test the use of the EUDI wallet in relation to the issuance, storage and

presentation of verifiable digital credentials through wallet-based solutions for

educational qualifications and learning achievements, the Digital Credentials for the

European Union (DC4EU) was conducted as a large-scale pilot project. The pilot

confirmed the potential efficiency gains from digital credentials, while also

illustrating the risk of fragmentation if Member States proceed with different

technical solutions in the absence of common standards.

1.5.4. Compatibility with the multiannual financial framework and possible synergies with

other appropriate instruments

This proposal is compatible with the Multiannual Financial Framework 2028-2034 as

proposed by the Commission.

The proposal creates synergies with existing Union instruments and policies. It

builds on the European Digital Identity framework and the eIDAS Regulation

through the use of interoparble digital attestations for qualifications and skills and the

trusted framework for exchanges. The proposal includes also an amendment of

Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 to allow for the use of solutions based on the Single

Digital Gateway and the Once-Only Technical System.

Finally, this proposal supports a proposal to review the Professional Qualifications

Directive under Skills Portability Initiative, which aims to facilitate recognition

procedures under the Professional Qualifications Directive through the provision of

interoperable digitial qualification attestations.

1.5.5. Assessment of the different available financing options, including scope for

redeployment

This proposal builds on the financial envelope proposed under the Erasmus+

programme and European Competitiveness Fund under Heading 2 of the Multiannual

Financial Framework 2028-2034, subject to its adoption and the EU annual

budgetary procedure.

EN 7 EN

1.6. Duration of the proposal/initiative and of its financial impact

limited duration

–  in effect from [DD/MM]YYYY to [DD/MM]YYYY

–  financial impact from YYYY to YYYY for commitment appropriations and

from YYYY to YYYY for payment appropriations.

unlimited duration

– Implementation with a start-up period from 2028 to 2034,

– followed by full-scale operation.

1.7. Method(s) of budget implementation planned23

Direct management by the Commission

–  by its departments, including by its staff in the Union delegations;

– by the executive agencies

Shared management with the Member States

Indirect management by entrusting budget implementation tasks to:

–  third countries or the bodies they have designated

–  international organisations and their agencies (to be specified)

–  the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund

–  bodies referred to in Articles 70 and 71 of the Financial Regulation

–  public law bodies

–  bodies governed by private law with a public service mission to the extent that

they are provided with adequate financial guarantees

–  bodies governed by the private law of a Member State that are entrusted with

the implementation of a public-private partnership and that are provided with

adequate financial guarantees

–  bodies or persons entrusted with the implementation of specific actions in the

common foreign and security policy pursuant to Title V of the Treaty on

European Union, and identified in the relevant basic act

– bodies established in a Member State, governed by the private law of a

Member State or Union law and eligible to be entrusted, in accordance with

sector-specific rules, with the implementation of Union funds or budgetary

guarantees, to the extent that such bodies are controlled by public law bodies or

by bodies governed by private law with a public service mission, and are provided

with adequate financial guarantees in the form of joint and several liability by the

controlling bodies or equivalent financial guarantees and which may be, for each

action, limited to the maximum amount of the Union support.

Comments

23 Details of budget implementation methods and references to the Financial Regulation may be found on

the BUDGpedia site: https://myintracomm.ec.europa.eu/corp/budget/financial-rules/budget-

implementation/Pages/implementation-methods.aspx.

EN 8 EN

This proposal is foreseen to be implemented by the Commission’s department from

2028 onwards. The additional staff needed to implement this proposal is assessed at

6 Full Time Equivalents. Part of the proposal might be implemented by an executive

agency, in particular under the proposed European Competitiveness Fund.

EN 9 EN

2. MANAGEMENT MEASURES

2.1. Monitoring and reporting rules

Monitoring of performance will focus on the extent to which the proposal succeeds

in increasing the availability, uptake and use of digital qualification attestations,

improving the efficiency of issuing and accessing such attestations, and supporting

the cross-border verification and recognition of qualifications. The monitoring

framework will include output, result and impact indicators measuring. The

Commission will carry out monitoring in cooperation with the Member States.

Monitoring will rely on annual information submitted by Member States on the

number of digital qualification attestations issued, revoked and suspended, the share

of qualifications issued in the form of digital qualification attestations in all

qualifications awarded annually, and the number of relying parties registered to

access digital qualification attestations; biennial reports by Member States on the

application of the Regulation, including information on the average processing time

for requests for issuance of digital qualification attestations.

2.2. Management and control system(s)

2.2.1. Justification of the budget implementation method(s), the funding implementation

mechanism(s), the payment modalities and the control strategy proposed

Direct management, as per article 62.1(a) of the Financial Regulation, is the

preferred mode of implementation, as the actions will be carried out by the European

Commission, more specifically the Directorate-General for Employment, Social

Affairs and Inclusion (DG EMPL), which will ensure the coordination with Member

States and various stakeholders.

2.2.2. Information concerning the risks identified and the internal control system(s) set up

to mitigate them

The controls are part of the internal control system of DG EMPL. The new activities

will be subject to the same risk identification and mitigation approach.

2.2.3. Estimation and justification of the cost-effectiveness of the controls (ratio between

the control costs and the value of the related funds managed), and assessment of the

expected levels of risk of error (at payment & at closure)

The controls are integrated into the internal control system of DG EMPL. The new

activities will generate negligeable additional control costs at DG level.

2.3. Measures to prevent fraud and irregularities

The Commission shall ensure that, when actions financed are implemented, the

financial interests of the Union are protected by the application of preventive

measures against fraud, corruption and any other illegal activities, by effective

checks and by the recovery of the amounts unduly paid and, if irregularities are

detected, by effective, proportional and dissuasive penalties. The Commission is

authorised to carry out checks and verifications in situ under this Decision, in

compliance with Council Regulation (Euratom, EC) No. 2185.96 of 11 November

1996 concerning on-the-spot checks and inspections carried out by the Commission

in order to protect the European Union’s financial interests against fraud and other

irregularities. If need be, investigations shall be carried out by the European Anti-

Fraud Office and shall be governed by Regulation (EC) No. 1073/1999 of the

EN 10 EN

Eureopan Parliament and of the Council of 25 May 1999 concerning investigations

conducted by the European Anti-Fraud Office.

EN 11 EN

3. ESTIMATED FINANCIAL IMPACT OF THE PROPOSAL/INITIATIVE

The estimated impact on expenditure and staffing for 2028 and beyond is added for

illustrative purposes only and does not pre-judge the 2028-2034 Multiannual

Financial Framework (MFF). The source of financing and scope of Union financial

commitment in the post-2027 period remain subject to the outcome of

interinstitutional negotiations on the 2028-2034 MFF and thereafter shall be

determined through the annual budgetary procedure. All appropriations and staffing

allocations as of 2028 are indicative.

3.1. Heading(s) of the multiannual financial framework and expenditure budget

line(s) affected

• Existing budget lines

In order of multiannual financial framework headings and budget lines.

Heading of

multiannual

financial

framework

Budget line Type of

expenditure

Contribution - to be determined at later stage for

EFTA, (potential) candidate countries and third

countries

Number

Diff./Non-

diff.24

from

EFTA

countries 25

from

candidate

countries

and

potential

candidates 26

From

other

third

countries

other assigned

revenue

2

To be determined after the adoption of the

MFF and in the context of the annual

budgetary procedure – successor of 07 03

02 – Erasmus+

Diff. YES/NO YES/NO YES/NO NO

2

To be determined after the adoption of the

MFF and in the context of the annual

budgetary procedure – European

Competitiveness Fund

Diff. YES YES YES YES

24 Diff. = Differentiated appropriations / Non-diff. = Non-differentiated appropriations. 25 EFTA: European Free Trade Association. 26 Candidate countries and, where applicable, potential candidates from the Western Balkans.

EN 12 EN

3.2. Estimated financial impact of the proposal on appropriations

3.2.1. Summary of estimated impact on operational appropriations

–  The proposal/initiative does not require the use of operational appropriations

–  The proposal/initiative requires the use of operational appropriations, as explained below

3.2.1.1. Appropriations from voted budget

EUR million (to three decimal places)

Heading of multiannual financial framework Number 2 - Competitiveness, prosperity and security

DG: EMPL

Year Year Year Year Year Year Year

TOTAL MFF 2028-2034 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033

2034 and

subsequent

years

Operational appropriations

Erasmus+ Commitments (1a) 0.500 1.200 1.100 0.815 0.815 0.815 0.815 6.060

Payments (2a) 0.500 1.200 1.100 0.815 0.815 0.815 0.815 6.060

European Competitiveness Fund Commitments (1b) p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m.

Payments (2b) p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m.

Appropriations of an administrative nature financed from the envelope of specific programmes27

Budget line (3) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

TOTAL appropriations Commitments =1a+1b+3 p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m.

for DG EMPL Payments =2a+2b+3 p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m.

27 Technical and/or administrative assistance and expenditure in support of the implementation of EU programmes and/or actions (former ‘BA’ lines), indirect research, direct research.

EN 13 EN

This proposal builds on two financial envelopes that work in synergy: Erasmus+ and the European Competitiveness Fund (ECF) for skills

development and for the objective of implementing the Union of Skills, including making use of EU digital identity wallets.

Year Year Year Year Year Year Year TOTAL

MFF 2028-

2034 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033

2034 and

subsequent

years

TOTAL operational

appropriations

Commitments (4) p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m.

Payments (5) p.m p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m.

TOTAL appropriations of an

administrative nature financed from the

envelope for specific programmes

(6) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

TOTAL

appropriations

under HEADING 2 Commitments =4+6 p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m.

of the multiannual

financial framework Payments =5+6 p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m.

Year Year Year Year Year Year Year

TOTAL

MFF

2028-2034

2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033

2034 and

subsequent

years

• TOTAL

operational

appropriations (all

operational

headings)

Commitments (4) p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m.

Payments (5) p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m.

• TOTAL appropriations of an

administrative nature financed from (6) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

EN 14 EN

the envelope for specific programmes

(all operational headings)

TOTAL

appropriations

Under Heading 1

to 3

Commitments =4+6 p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m.

of the multiannual

financial framework Payments =5+6 p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m.

(Reference amount)

EN 15 EN

Heading of multiannual financial framework 4 ‘Administrative expenditure’28

DG: EMPL Year Year Year Year Year Year Year TOTAL

MFF

2028-2034 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 2034

 Human resources 1.568 1.568 1.568 1.568 1.568 1.568 1.568 10.976

 Other administrative expenditure 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

TOTAL DG EMPL Appropriations 1.568 1.568 1.568 1.568 1.568 1.568 1.568 10.976

TOTAL appropriations under HEADING 4 of

the multiannual financial framework

(Total

commitments

= Total

payments)

1.568 1.568 1.568 1.568 1.568 1.568 1.568 10.976

28 The necessary appropriations should be determined using the annual average cost figures available on the appropriate BUDGpedia webpage.

EN 16 EN

The staff needed to implement this proposal has been assessed at 9 full time equivalent (FTE), of which 3 AD and 2 contract agents are redeployed from existing staff in the

DG, 3 AD and1 AST are to be covered by the redeployment pool of the Commission.

EN 17 EN

EUR million (to three decimal places)

Year Year Year Year Year Year Year TOTAL

MFF 2028-

2034 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 2034

TOTAL

appropriations under

HEADINGS 1 to 4

Commitments p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m.

of the multiannual

financial framework Payments p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m.

EN 18 EN

3.2.2. Estimated output funded from operational appropriations (not to be completed for decentralised agencies)

Commitment appropriations in EUR million (to three decimal places)

Indicate

objectives

and outputs



Year 2028

Year 2029

Year 2030

Year 2031

Year 2032

Year 2033

Year 2034

TOTAL

OUTPUTS

Type 29

Aver

age

cost

N o

Cost N o

Cost N o

Cost N o

Cost N o

Cost N o

Cost N o

Cost Total

No

Total

cost

Specific objectives 1

and 2

- Output Activ

ities

funde

d

under

Eras

mus+

30

1 0.500 1 1.200 1 1.100 1 0.815 1 0.81

5

1 0.815 1 0.815 7 6.060

29 Outputs are products and services to be supplied (e.g. number of student exchanges financed, number of km of roads built, etc.). 30 This includes mainly work on Europass (comparison tool, back office to connect databases on qualifications, accreditation and awarding bodies).

EN 19 EN

- Output Activ

ities

funde

d

under

the

Euro

pean

Com

petiti

venes

s

Fund 31

1 0 1 p.m. 1 p.m. 1 p.m. 1 1 p.m. 1 p.m. 7 p.m.

Subtotal for specific

objectives

1 p.m. 1 p.m. 1 p.m. 1 p.m. 1 p.m. 1 p.m. 1 p.m. 7 p.m.

TOTALS 1 p.m. 1 p.m. 1 0p.m. 1 p.m. 1 p.m. 1 p.m. 1 p.m. 7 p.m.

31 These include activities such as supporting Member States in setting up the trust framework needed for the digitalisation of qualifications in line

with the eIDAS Regulation under the EUDI Wallet (i.e. national registries of qualifications, awarding bodies and accreditations), putting in place the

verification software and preparing the digital issuing infrastructure for qualifications.

EN 20 EN

3.2.3. Summary of estimated impact on administrative appropriations

–  The proposal/initiative does not require the use of appropriations of an administrative nature

–  The proposal/initiative requires the use of appropriations of an administrative nature, as explained below

3.2.3.1. Appropriations from voted budget

VOTED APPROPRIATIONS Year Year Year Year Year Year Year TOTAL 2028 -

2034 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 2034

HEADING 4

Human resources 1.568 1.568 1.568 1.568 1.568 1.568 1.568 10.976

Other administrative expenditure 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.0000.0000.000 0.000

Subtotal HEADING 4 1.568 1.568 1.568 1.568 1.568 1.568 1.568 10.976

Outside HEADING 4

Human resources 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.0000.0000.000 0.000

Other expenditure of an administrative

nature 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.0000.0000.000 0.000

Subtotal outside HEADING 4 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

TOTAL 1.568 1.568 1.568 1.568 1.568 1.568 1.568 10.976

The appropriations required for human resources and other expenditure of an administrative nature will be met by appropriations from the DG that are already

assigned to management of the action and/or have been redeployed within the DG, together, if necessary, with any additional allocation which may be granted to the

managing DG under the annual allocation procedure and in the light of budgetary constraints.

The estimated impact on expenditure and staffing for 2028 and beyond is added for illustrative purposes only and does not pre-judge the 2028-2034 Multiannual

Financial Framework (MFF). The source of financing and scope of Union financial commitment in the post-2027 period remain subject to the outcome of

interinstitutional negotiations on the 2028-2034 MFF and thereafter shall be determined through the annual budgetary procedure. All appropriations and staffing

allocations as of 2028 are indicative.

3.2.4. Estimated requirements of human resources

–  The proposal/initiative does not require the use of human resources

–  The proposal/initiative requires the use of human resources, as explained below

EN 21 EN

3.2.4.1. Financed from voted budget

Estimate to be expressed in full-time equivalent units (FTEs)32

VOTED APPROPRIATIONS

Year Year Year Year Year Year Year

2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033

2034 and

subsequent

years

 Establishment plan posts (officials and temporary staff)

20 01 02 01 (Headquarters and Commission’s

Representation Offices) 7 7 7 7 7 7 7

20 01 02 03 (EU Delegations) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

(Indirect research) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

(Direct research) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Other budget lines (specify) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

• External staff (inFTEs)

20 02 01 (AC, END from the ‘global envelope’) 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

20 02 03 (AC, AL, END and JPD in the EU Delegations) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Admin. Support line • at Headquarters 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

[XX.01.YY.YY] • in EU Delegations 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

(AC, END - Indirect research) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

(AC, END - Direct research) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Other budget lines (specify) - Heading 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

32 Please specify below the table how many FTEs within the number indicated are already assigned to the management of the action and/or can be redeployed within your DG

and what are your net needs.

EN 22 EN

Other budget lines (specify) - Outside Heading 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

TOTAL 9 9 9 9 9 9 9

The staff required to implement the proposal (in FTEs):

To be covered by

current staff

available in the

Commission

services

Exceptional additional staff*

To be financed

under Heading 4

or Research

To be financed

from BA line

To be financed

from fees

Establishment

plan posts

6 AD and 1 AST

N/A N/A

External staff

(CA, SNEs, INT)

2 CA N/A N/A

*

5 staff (3 AD, 2 CA) will be redeployed from existing staff in the DG to work on the implementation of the Skills Portability Act, but the

implementation of this entirely new initiative will require 4 additional staff (3 AD, 1 AST) from the redeployment pool of the Commission

The tasks related to the implementation include the oversight and coordination of the project, the management of the Qualifications Digitalisation

Group, the digital implementation of the Regulation, the monitoring and future reporting of the Regulation, as well as the policy steer. . The

implementation of the regulation will require the drafting of several implementing acts (with the bulk of the work expected to take place within 18

months of the adoption) and the adoption of the implementing acts as soon as possible to allow Member States to prepare the entry into force of the

regulation on time. This will require also technical work (including IT development) and technical support to ensure that Member States are ready for

implementation within the legal deadline. After these initial years, staff will be needed to continue providing support in the implementation of the

Member States, updating the implementing acts and preparing delegated acts when necessary, as well as monitoring and enforcement of the

EN 23 EN

regulation’s implementation. Throughout the entire period, staff will be needed for the running of governance, communication and awareness-raising

activities, and technical support for the Member States.

The Skills Portability Act, will require investing in IT solutions that will support its implementation (e.g. supplying a reference application to verify

whether a digitalised qualification has not been forged since its issuance, improving the IMI solution to better support recognition of qualifications in

the domain of regulated professions). To support the policy units in the implementation of these IT activities, besides the requested IT budget that will

be used to procure the IT activities (e.g. acquisition of IT service providers, or full outsourcing). Additional staff is required, to cover all project

management related tasks (i.e. planning the work, drafting the project charter, managing a team of IT service providers, monitoring and controlling the

work plan and deliverables, etc.).

Description of tasks to be carried out by:

Officials and temporary staff 1 AST for IT unit to cover all project management related tasks (i.e. planning the

work, drafting the project charter, managing a team of IT service provicers, monitoring

and controlling the work plans vs deliverables, etc.).

6 AD to draft the implemention acts, to provide for technical support to Member

States, to run the Qualifications Digitalisation Grouop, to implement communication

and awareness raising activities. Oversight and coordination of the project for the

digital implementation of the Regulation, the monitoring and future reporting of the

Regulation, as well as policy steer.

External staff To second the 6 AD in all their tasks.

3.2.5. Overview of estimated impact on digital technology-related investments

Compulsory: the best estimate of the digital technology-related investments entailed by the proposal/initiative should be included in the table

below.

Exceptionally, when required for the implementation of the proposal/initiative, the appropriations under Heading 4 should be presented in the

designated line.

The appropriations under Headings 1-3 should be reflected as “Policy IT expenditure on operational programmes”. This expenditure refers to

the operational budget to be used to re-use/ buy/ develop IT platforms/ tools directly linked to the implementation of the initiative and their

associated investments (e.g. licences, studies, data storage etc). The information provided in this table should be consistent with details

presented under Section 4 “Digital dimensions”.

EN 24 EN

TOTAL Digital and IT

appropriations

Year Year Year Year Year Year Year TOTAL MFF

2028 - 2034

2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 2034

HEADING 4

IT expenditure (corporate) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Subtotal HEADING 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Outside HEADING 4

Policy IT expenditure on operational programmes

0.5 p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m.

Subtotal outside HEADING 4 0.5 p.m. p.m. p.m.p.m. p.m.p.m. p.m.

TOTAL 0.5 p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m.

3.2.6. Compatibility with the current multiannual financial framework

The proposal/initiative:

–  can be fully financed through redeployment within the relevant heading of the multiannual financial framework (MFF)

–  requires use of the unallocated margin under the relevant heading of the MFF and/or use of the special instruments as defined in the

MFF Regulation

–  requires a revision of the MFF

EN 25 EN

3.2.7. Third-party contributions

The proposal/initiative:

–  does not provide for co-financing by third parties

–  provides for the co-financing by third parties estimated below:

Appropriations in EUR million (to three decimal places)

Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Total

2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 2034

Specify the co-financing

body EEA EFTA countries

p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m.

TOTAL appropriations

co-financed p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m.

3.3. Estimated impact on revenue

–  The proposal/initiative has no financial impact on revenue.

–  The proposal/initiative has the following financial impact:

–  on own resources

–  on other revenue

–  please indicate, if the revenue is assigned to expenditure lines

EUR million (to three decimal places)

EN 26 EN

Budget revenue line:

Appropriations available

for the current financial

year

Impact of the proposal/initiative33

Year 2028 Year 2029 Year 2030 Year 2031 Year 2032 Year 2033 Year 2034

Article ………….

For assigned revenue, specify the budget expenditure line(s) affected.

Other remarks (e.g. method/formula used for calculating the impact on revenue or any other information).

4. DIGITAL DIMENSIONS

4.1. Requirements of digital relevance

If the policy initiative is assessed as having no requirement of digital relevance:

Justification of why digital means cannot be used to enhance policy implementation and why the ‘digital by default’ principle is not applicable

N/A

Otherwise:

High-level description of the requirements of digital relevance and related categories (data, process digitalisation & automation, digital solutions

and/or digital public services)

Reference to the

requirement Requirement description

Actors affected or

concerned by the

requirement

High-level Processes Categories

Article 3 (1-3) Member States shall designate issuers

who shall issue digital qualification

attestations within the European

Issuing authorities in the

Member States:

o Qualified trust

Issuance of digital

credentials

Data

Digital public

service

33 In the case of traditional own resources (customs duties, sugar levies), the amounts indicated must be net amounts, i.e. gross amounts after deduction of 10 % for collection

costs, as proposed in COM(2025)574.

EN 27 EN

Reference to the

requirement Requirement description

Actors affected or

concerned by the

requirement

High-level Processes Categories

Digital Identity Wallet as:

• Qualified Electronic

Attestation of Attributes in

accordance with Article 45(d)

of Regulation (EU) No

910/2014;

• An electronic attestation of

attributes issued by or on

behalf of a public sector body

responsible for an authentic

source in accordance with

Article 45(f) in that

Regulation.

Digital qualification attestations shall

be issued in one or more official

languages of the Union of their choice

plus a mutually‑agreed common

language.

service providers

as defined in

Article 3, point 20

of Regulation (EU)

No 910/2014;

o Public sector

bodies responsible

for an authentic

source or other

entities acting on

their behalf.

Process

digitalisation &

automation

Digital solution

Article 3 (4)

Member States should transmit to the

Commission up‑to‑date lists of

awarding bodies, accreditations and

qualifications (covering the previous

ten years).

Member States

European Commission

Preparation, updating and

transmission of trusted lists

Data

Process

digitalisation &

automation

Digital solution

EN 28 EN

Reference to the

requirement Requirement description

Actors affected or

concerned by the

requirement

High-level Processes Categories

Article 3 (5)

Holders of qualifications must be able

to retrieve digital qualification

attestations electronically free of

charge upon their application for such

attestations.

EU citizens and EU

residents (Qualification

holders)

Identity check/matching of

wallet holder

Provision of the credential

(free, electronic)

Data

Digital public

service

Process

digitalisation &

automation

Digital solution

Article 3 (6)

The Commission shall adopt

implementing acts laying down

detailed provisions concerning the

agreed common language; formats and

protocols for the issuance of digital

qualification attestations across the

Union; and the formats of and transfer

protocols for the lists of awarding

bodies, accreditations and

qualifications included in national

qualifications frameworks. Those

implementing acts shall be adopted in

accordance with the examination

procedure referred to in Article 15(2)

Member States

European Commission

Issuance of digital

credentials

Exchange of information:

lists of awarding bodies,

accreditations and

qualifications included in

the NQF

Data

Digital public

service

Process

digitalisation &

automation

Digital solution

Article 4 (1‑3) Member States must evidence

qualifications by means of digital

qualification attestations that meet

Issuing authorities in the

Member States

Identity check/matching of

wallet holder

Issuance of digital

Data

Digital public

EN 29 EN

Reference to the

requirement Requirement description

Actors affected or

concerned by the

requirement

High-level Processes Categories

the Union‑wide standard

specifications (Annex I).

Digital attestations shall comply with

the data fields specifications laid down

in Annex I, except for digital

qualification attestations issued in

accordance with Article 9.

Digital qualification attestations shall

constitute evidence of qualifications

awarded to the holder and shall be

valid across the Union.

Awarding bodies

EU citizens and EU

residents (Qualification

holders)

credentials

Qualifications are quality

assured as part of a Member

State’s National

Qualifications Framework

service

Process

digitalisation &

automation

Digital solution

Article 4(4‑5)

From [entry into force plus 36

months], Member States shall ensure

that digital

qualification attestations are issued

without delay upon request of the

qualification holder as the default

format for evidencing

qualifications which meet the

following conditions:

(a) they are part of a

Member State’s

national qualifications

framework;

Issuing authorities in the

Member States

Awarding bodies

EU citizens and EU

residents (Qualification

holders)

Identity check/matching of

wallet holder

Issuance of digital

credentials

Data

Digital public

service

Process

digitalisation &

automation

EN 30 EN

Reference to the

requirement Requirement description

Actors affected or

concerned by the

requirement

High-level Processes Categories

(b) they have

been awarded after

[date of entry into force

minus 10 years].

For qualifications awarded between

[date of entry into force minus 10

years] and [date of entry into force],

Member States shall issue digital

qualification attestations upon request

of the qualification holder, to the

extent possible, without delay, and in

any case no later than within two

weeks from receipt of that request.

Article 5 (1)

Digital qualification attestations shall

be issued to the European Digital

Identity Wallets to the holders of

qualifications who meet the following

conditions:

• They have been awarded a

qualification from an awarding

body; and

• They hold an active European

Digital Identity Wallet

• They request the issuance of a

Issuing authorities in the

Member States Awarding

Bodies

EU citizens and EU

residents (Qualification

holders)

Issuance of digital

credentials

Identity check/matching of

wallet holder

Provision of the credential

Data

Digital public

service

Process

digitalisation &

automation

Digital solution

EN 31 EN

Reference to the

requirement Requirement description

Actors affected or

concerned by the

requirement

High-level Processes Categories

digital qualification attestation.

This includes re-issuance where the

holder no longer has access to a

previously held attestation.

Article 6 (1‑3)

Digital credentials must be refused,

revoked or suspended when the

underlying qualification has been

withdrawn or suspended in either the

issuing or a receiving Member State

by an awarding body or another

competent authority. The status is

reflected in the verification system

within 24 hours.

The information on revocation and

suspension of digital qualification

attestations should be made available

to relying parties by issuers.

Issuing authorities in the

Member States

Relying parties

EU citizens and EU

residents (Qualification

holders)

Receiving Member States

Decision to refuse issuance

Revocation or suspension

Updating of revocation lists

and making the status

available through the

verification process

Data

Digital public

service

Process

digitalisation &

automation

Article 7 (1‑2)

No later than [entry into force plus 36

months], Member States shall provide

a digital verification tool that enables

relying parties to verify that:

3. the digital qualification

attestation was issued by an

issuer referred to in Article

Relying parties (employers,

regulators, Competent

Authorities etc.)

European Commission

Verification‑software

developers

Credentials verification

process

Development/sharing of

verification tools

Compliance with procedural

rules

Data

Digital public

service

Digital solution

Process

digitalisation &

EN 32 EN

Reference to the

requirement Requirement description

Actors affected or

concerned by the

requirement

High-level Processes Categories

3(2);

4. the qualification evidenced by

the digital qualification

attestation was awarded by an

awarding body accredited at

the time of the award;

5. the digital qualification

attestation has not been

tampered with since it was

issued;

6. the digital qualification

attestation has not been

suspended or revoked.

The Commission shall adopt

implementing acts laying down

formats and procedures for

verification by relying parties in

accordance with paragraph 1,.

The implementing acts shall be

adopted in accordance with the

examination procedure referred to in

Article 15(2).

Qualification holders automation

EN 33 EN

Reference to the

requirement Requirement description

Actors affected or

concerned by the

requirement

High-level Processes Categories

Article 8 (1)

Member States shall provide

information on the qualifications,

awarding bodies and accreditations to

the Europass online platform in

accordance with:

• a common semantic model laid

down in point 1, of Annex I,

• the minimum requirements

provided in Annex IV,

• for the description of

qualifications, to the extent

possible, making use of skills

terminology from the

European classification of

skills and occupations (ESCO)

based on a mapping between

Member States’ classification

systems and the European

classification.

Member States shall, to the extent

possible, submit updates of this

information in real time and in any

case at least each month.

Member States

European Commission

Comparable information on

qualifications

Data

Digital public

service

Digital solution

Process

digitalisation &

automation

EN 34 EN

Reference to the

requirement Requirement description

Actors affected or

concerned by the

requirement

High-level Processes Categories

Article 8 (3-5)

National Qualifications Frameworks

(NFQ) shall include all qualifications

awarded under the jurisdiction of a

Member State and be kept up to date.

To the extent possible, Member States

shall include micro-credentials in their

national qualifications frameworks.

Member States shall use the European

Qualifications Framework (EQF) to

reference national qualifications

frameworks or systems and to

compare all types and levels of

qualifications in the Union that are

part of national qualifications

frameworks or systems, in particular

by referencing their qualification

levels to levels of the European

Qualifications Framework set out in

Annex III.

Member States national

authorities

Qualification providers

Mapping to EQF and

updating NQF registers

Data

Digital public

service

Digital solution

Process

digitalisation &

automation

Article 8 (6)

The Commission shall provide a

digital tool to facilitate an

automated comparison of qualification

s listed in national qualifications

frameworks referenced to

European Commission

National authorities (for the

provision of the data)

Publication of NQFs data

on Europass

Compare two single

qualifications side-by-side

Export the comparison view

Data

Digital solution

Process

digitalisation &

EN 35 EN

Reference to the

requirement Requirement description

Actors affected or

concerned by the

requirement

High-level Processes Categories

the European Qualifications

Framework and make it available

through Europass platform.

(for information purposes)

Find an EQF level based on

a qualification title

Compare two national

qualifications frameworks

automation

Article 9 (1‑4)

For qualifications awarded more than

ten years ago, Member States must, on

request, issue a digital credential based

on existing evidence (using eIDAS

(Regulation (EU) 910/2014) Annex VI

or OOTS common services (Single

Digital Gateway Regulation (EU)

2018/1724)) and in accordance with

the Union standard specification.

Member States shall use Union

standard specifications for data fields

laid down in Annex V, for these

digital qualification attestations.

EU citizens and EU

residents (Qualification

holders)

Issuing authorities

Retrieval of historic

evidence

Creation of a digital

credential for legacy

qualifications

Alignment with standard

specification

Data

Digital public

service

Process

digitalisation &

automation

Digital solution

Article 12 (1‑2)

Personal data shall be processed in the

context of this Regulation only in so

far as it is necessary for issuance and

verification of digital qualification

attestations in accordance

with Chapter 2.

Data controllers (issuing

authorities and verifiers)

Data Protection Officers

EU citizens and EU

residents (Qualification

Collection, storage,

retention, and deletion of

personal data related to

credential issuance and

verification

Data

EN 36 EN

Reference to the

requirement Requirement description

Actors affected or

concerned by the

requirement

High-level Processes Categories

Personal data processed in the

context of this Regulation shall be

retained no longer than [45] years.

holders)

Article 13 (1‑4)

By [[48] months from the date of the

entry into force of this

Regulation], and every

year thereafter, Member States shall

submit to the Commission the

following data concerning the past 12

months:

(a) the number of digital

qualification attestations

issued, revoked and suspended;

(b) the share of qualifications

issued in the form of digital

qualification attestations

among all qualifications

awarded;

(c) the number of relying parties

registered to and requesting access to

digital qualification attestations. By

[48] months from the date of the entry

into force of this Regulation], and

every two years thereafter, Member

National reporting units

European Commission

Evaluation bodies

Data collection for

statistical reporting,

preparation of annual and

biennial reports, and

transmission to the

Commission

Data

Process

digitalisation &

automation

EN 37 EN

Reference to the

requirement Requirement description

Actors affected or

concerned by the

requirement

High-level Processes Categories

States shall submit a report to the

Commission on the application of this

Regulation. The report shall include:

(c) the data referred to in paragraph

1;

(d) the information on respective

average processing time of a

request for issuance of a digital

qualification attestation in

accordance with Article 4(5)

and Article 9.

Member States shall collect feedback

from holders of qualifications,

employers, awarding institutions,

issuers, recognition authorities for

regulated professions and other

stakeholders necessary for preparing

the report as laid down in this

paragraph.

The information submitted to the

Commission in accordance

with paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not

include personal data.

By [the same date as the date of

application plus five years], the

EN 38 EN

Reference to the

requirement Requirement description

Actors affected or

concerned by the

requirement

High-level Processes Categories

Commission shall review and evaluate

the application of this Regulation and

shall present a report to that effect to

the European Parliament and the

Council.

EN 39 EN

4.2. Data

High-level description of the data in scope

Type of data Reference to the requirement(s) Standard and/or specification (if applicable)

Digital qualification attestations Article 3 (1-3)

Article 3 (4-6)

Article 4 (1‑5)

Article 5 (1)

Article 6 (1‑3)

Article 7 (1‑2)

Article 8 (1)

Article 8 (3-5)

Article 9 (1‑4)

Article 12 (1‑2)

EUDI electronic attestations of attributes, standards

and processes described in Annex I, Annex II,

Annex IV and Annex V.

Revocation/suspension data Article 6 (1‑3) Revocation lists managed by Member States and

made accessible to others

Lists of awarding bodies Article 3 (4)

Article 3 (6)

Article 5 (1)

Article 8 (1-2)

Standards and processes described in Annex IV.

EN 40 EN

List of accreditations Article 3 (4)

Article 3 (6)

Article 5 (1)

Article 8 (1-2)

Standards and processes described in Annex IV.

Lists of current and past 10 years of qualifications

and data on qualifications listed in Member State’s

National Qualifications Frameworks (NQFs)

Article 3 (4)

Article 3 (6)

Article 8 (3-6)

ESCO, EQF, and ISCED classifications should be

used where possible.

Standards and processes described in Annex IV.

Annual statistical summary on numbers of digital

credentials issued/renewed/withdrawn/suspended,

processing times, user experience and stakeholder

feedback.

Article 13 (1‑4)

Personal data of qualification holdersArticle 12 (1‑2) Processed under Regulation (EU) 2016/679

(GDPR); data minimisation and storage limitation

Alignment with the European Data Strategy

Explanation of how the requirement(s) are aligned with the European Data Strategy

In terms of compliance with GDPR, the main roles and responsibilities related to personal data protection are already set out in Article 12.

Qualifications and accreditation data are already made available as Open data on the data.europa.eu portal34. Qualifications, awarding bodies,

and accreditation information does not contain any personal data.

34 https://data.europa.eu/data/datasets/european-learning-data?locale=en

EN 41 EN

The initiative supports the European Data Strategy by making qualification data interoperable, portable and reusable across borders under the

holder’s control.

Digital credentials are stored in the citizen’s EUDI Wallet, which enables selective disclosure and user-controlled sharing, in line with the

Strategy’s objective of empowering individuals over their data.

EN 42 EN

Alignment with the once-only principle

Explanation of how the once-only principle has been considered and how the possibility to reuse existing data has been explored

Reusing the EUDI Wallet framework will guarantee the once only principle, as it will reuse the existing wallet and the accompanying trust

framework.

Reuse of the Europass framework, in particular the Qualification Dataset Register, is foreseen, as this mechanism is already in place for the

publication of accreditation and qualifications in Europass. Furthermore, the Europass qualifications comparison tool will draw upon the

qualifications database, and upon existing functionality within Europass.

Reuse of the European Learning Model (ELM) is planned for semantic interoperability for digital qualification attestations and for information

on qualifications, awarding bodies and accreditation information.

Explanation of how newly created data is findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable, and meets high-quality standards

Personal data (including qualifications or information within recognition procedures) is in general not supposed to be findable or reusable.

Interoperability of attestations about qualifications is guaranteed through the use of the EUDI framework and infrastructure and by the

common standards described in the Annexes and the use of a common semantic data model. Such standards will ensure mutual understanding

of the qualifications in cross-border contexts.

Information on national qualifications frameworks will be kept up-to-date by Member States and published on Europass (according to Article

8)

EN 43 EN

Data flows

High-level description of the data flows

Type of data Reference(s) to the

requirement(s)

Actors who

provide the

data

Actors who

receive the

data

Trigger for the

data exchange

Frequency (if

applicable)

Digital Qualification Attestations Article 3 (1-3)

Article 4 (1‑5)

Article 5 (1)

Article 6 (1‑3)

Article 7 (1-2)

Member States

Issuing

Authorities

Awarding

Bodies

EU Citizen/EU

resident

EU Citizen/EU

resident

Relying Parties

Request from the

EU citizen/EU

resident

Automatic

renewal of

credentials (e.g.

after expiry)

Request from the

relying party (e.g.

during an

application

process)

Lists of awarding bodies Article 3 (4) Member States

National

Authority

European

Commission

Update to the

awarding body

data

Lists of accreditations Article 3 (4) Member States

National

Authority

European

Commission

Update to the

accreditation data

Lists of qualifications and data on

qualifications listed in National

Article 8 (1-2)

Article 8 (3-5)

Member States

National

European

Commission

Update to the

qualifications data

EN 44 EN

Qualifications Frameworks (NQFs) Authority (Europass)

Annual statistical summary on numbers

of digital credentials

issued/renewed/withdrawn/suspended,

processing times, user experience and

stakeholder feedback.

Article 13 (1‑2) Member States

National

Authority

European

Commission

Annually

Revocation/ Suspension data Article 6 (1‑3)

Member State

issuing

authority

Other Member

States / relying

parties

Withdrawal or

suspension event

As it occurs

Comparable information on

qualifications

Article 8 (1-2)

Member States Europass

platform

European

Commission

Updates on the

information on the

qualifications,

awarding bodies

and accreditations

As the update

happens

EN 45 EN

4.3. Digital solutions

High-level description of digital solutions

Digital solution Reference(s) to the

requirement(s)

Main mandated

functionalities

Responsible

body

How is

accessibility

catered for?

How is reusability

considered?

Use of AI

technologies

(if

applicable)

Digital

Qualification

attestations

issuing and

revocation

System

Article 3 (1-3)

Article 4 (1‑5)

Article 5 (1)

Article 6 (1‑3)

Article 9 (1‑4)

Article 12 (1‑2)

Issuance of digital

credentials to EUDI

Wallets in the form of

EUDI electronic

attestations of attributes.

Retrieval of historic

evidence by embedding

attributes in the body of

the digital credential.

Revocation list

management, and making

such lists available to

Relying Parties

Member States

issuing

authorities

Following

EUDI

specifications

By definition, the

issuing systems will

reuse EUDI

infrastructure

(including EUDI

trust framework and

relevant ETSI

standards) and

specifications

N/A

Digital

Qualification

attestations

Verification

Tool

Article 7 (1-2) Digital verification tool

to ensure that the

relying parties are able to

verify digital

qualification

attestations in accordance

with common minimum

verification requirements

Member States Article 7 (1-

2) requires

Member

States to

implement a

verification

application

suitable for

If deemed useful, the

Commission might

provide a reference

implementation of

the app to be

reused/configured by

Member States, on a

voluntary basis as

N/A

EN 46 EN

and processes use by all

their

qualification

holders.

described in the

supporting measures

(and Recital 16)

Europass System Article 8 (1)

Article 8 (6)

Storing data on

qualifications, awarding

bodies and

accreditations.

Presenting the

information on

qualifications and

accreditations.

Qualifications

information is also used

in the Europass

comparison of single

qualification tool.

In order to fully support

the SPI, the following

developments must be

carried out:

1. Support for an

awarding body

registry

2. Versioning, and

timestamping of

qualifications and

accreditations

3. Improving

European

Commission and

Member States

(data providers)

Built on

existing

Europass

tools which

already

follow Web

Content

Accessibility

Guidelines

(WCAG) 2.1

Enhancement of

existing Europass

tools

N/A

EN 47 EN

performance and

scalability

4. Adaptations

following ELM

modifications

Enhancement of the

existing qualifications

comparison tool

functionality to include:

1. Mechanism to

determine the

EQF level of a

given

qualification and

export it

Search for similar

national qualifications in

other MSs

For each digital solution, explanation of how the digital solution complies with applicable digital policies and legislative enactments

EN 48 EN

Digital Qualification attestations issuing and revocation System

Digital and/or sectorial policy (when these are

applicable)

Explanation on how it aligns

AI Act It is not foreseen to create or use any AI systems for this solution.

EU Cybersecurity framework All issuance protocols will be compliant with EUDI protocols and standards for the

digital attestation format.

No additional cybersecurity requirements will be added by the regulation.

eIDAS Since the issuing systems need to issue EUDI attestation, they need to rely on

specifications set out in EUDI regulation (by definition compliant with eIDAS).

Single Digital Gateway and IMI The Once Only Technical System can be leveraged for confirming information to

be included in a digital qualification attestation and for issuers to identify the

authentic source.

GDPR (Reg. 2016/679) Processing of personal data is limited to what is necessary for issuance (article 13);

data minimisation and storage limitation apply.

Others N/A

EN 49 EN

Digital Qualification attestations Verification Tool

Digital and/or sectorial policy (when these are

applicable)

Explanation on how it aligns

AI Act It is not foreseen to create or use any AI systems for this solution.

EU Cybersecurity framework All verification protocols will be compliant with EUDI protocols and standards for

the digital attestation format.

No additional cybersecurity requirements will be added by the regulation.

eIDAS The verification of EUDI digital attestation will be compliant with EUDI protocols

and standards, based on eIDAS.

Single Digital Gateway and IMI No interface with the Single Digital Gateway or IMI foreseen.

Others N/A

Europass

Digital and/or sectorial policy (when these are

applicable)

Explanation on how it aligns

AI Act It is not foreseen to create or use any AI systems for this solution.

EU Cybersecurity framework No new specific cybersecurity requirements mandated by the regulation.

eIDAS N/A

Single Digital Gateway and IMI N/A

EN 50 EN

GDPR (Reg. 2016/679) Europass publishes NQF/Qualification metadata, not personal data of individual

holders.

Others N/A

EN 51 EN

4.4. Interoperability assessment

High-level description of the digital public service(s) affected by the requirements

Digital public service or

category of digital public

services

Description Reference(s) to the

requirement(s)

Interoperable

Europe Solution(s)

Other interoperability

solution(s)

Digital Qualification

attestations issuing and

revocation service

Service provided by Member

States issuing authorities to

issue digital credentials for

qualifications to citizens.

Service provided under the

EUDI Wallet framework and

implemented by the Member

States issuing authorities to

revoke or suspend a credential

when the underlying

qualification has been

withdrawn or suspended in

either the issuing or a

receiving Member State.

Qualification life-event

procedure and Digital

Credentials output added to

the Single Digital Gateway

Article 3 (1-3)

Article 4 (1‑5)

Article 5 (1)

Article 6 (1‑3)

Article 9 (1‑4)

Article 16

N/A EUDI Wallet, EUDI trust

framework, EQF alignment,

European Learning Model35

Your Europe and the Single

Digital Gateway

Digital Qualification

attestations verification

Service provided by relying

parties in the Member States

(employers, regulators, etc.)

Article 7 (1‑2)

N/A EUDI trust framework, ELM,

Reference Implementation of the

verification service (Recital 16

35 ELM was CAMSS assessed: https://interoperable-europe.ec.europa.eu/collection/common-assessment-method-standards-and-specifications-camss/solution/camss-

assessment-elm-eif-scenario

EN 52 EN

service to accept and verify digital

credentials

(Reference to section 4.5:

Measures to support digital

implementation))

Publication of National

Qualifications data service

(Europass and EU open

data portal)

Service provided by the

European Commission (on

Europass and EU Open Data

portal)

Article 3 (4)

Article 8 (3-6)

N/A European Learning Model

EN 53 EN

Impact of the requirement(s) as per digital public service on cross-border interoperability

Digital Qualification attestations issuing and revocation system

Assessment Measure(s) Potential remaining barriers (if applicable)

Alignment with existing digital and

sectorial policies

Please list the applicable digital and

sectorial policies identified

Issuance:

• EUDI Regulation for the issuing of digital

credentials which will require an

amendment to the ETSI profiles to

support W3C VCDM.

• Skills Portability Initiative Regulation

• SDG Regulation

Revocation:

• EUDI Regulation

• Skills Portability Initiative

N/A

Organisational measures for a

smooth cross-border digital public

services delivery

Please list the governance measures

foreseen

Issuance:

• Registration of issuers in the EUDI trust

framework to be recognised as an

authorised issuer

• Communication to the Commission of list

of lists of awarding bodies, accreditations

and qualifications, and publication on

Qualifications Digitalisation Group

Revocation:

Governance: separate and binding roles (the

issuer refuses issuance, revokes or suspends,

and maintains the information; relying parties

N/A

EN 54 EN

across the Union must refuse validity), with

the conditions for recovery of the

qualification left to the awarding Member

State – a national decision with Union-wide

effect.

Management: a cross-border

status/revocation service making the

information accessible within 24 hours of the

request, with a record of revocation and

suspension statuses, a distinction between

permanent and temporary states, and a re-

issuance workflow conditional on

verification of national requirements.

Measures taken to ensure a shared

understanding of the data

Please list such measures

• Data specifications described in Annex I

II, IV and V

• CAMMS assessment performed on the

ELM model

• A publicly available ELM Browser which

precisely describes the ontology, all the

application profiles, and properties.

• Futurium peer exchange group for ELM

N/A

Use of commonly agreed open

technical specifications and

standards

• Technical specifications described in

Annex I, II, IV and V.

N/A

EN 55 EN

Please list such measures

Digital Qualification attestations verification service

Assessment Measure(s) Potential remaining barriers (if applicable)

Alignment with existing digital and

sectorial policies

Please list the applicable digital and

sectorial policies identified

• Adoption of technologies and standards

foreseen by the EUDI regulation

• EUDI Regulation for the verification of

digital credentials

• SPI regulation

N/A

Organisational measures for a

smooth cross-border digital public

services delivery

Please list the governance measures

foreseen

• Registration of relying parties in the

EUDI trust framework to be recognised as

authorised verifiers

N/A

Measures taken to ensure a shared

understanding of the data

Please list such measures

• Data specifications described in Annex I

and II, IV, V

N/A

Use of commonly agreed open

technical specifications and

standards

Please list such measures

• Technical specifications described in

Annex I

N/A

Publication of National Qualifications data service (Europass and EU open data portal)

EN 56 EN

Assessment Measure(s) Potential remaining barriers (if applicable)

Alignment with existing digital and

sectorial policies

Please list the applicable digital and

sectorial policies identified

• Europass Decision (Decision (EU)

2018/646)

• Council Recommendation on the

European Qualifications Framework

• Council Recommendation on a European

approach to micro-credentials

•

N/A

Organisational measures for a

smooth cross-border digital public

services delivery

Please list the governance measures

foreseen

• As mentioned in Article 9, Member States

have the obligation to provide information

on qualifications listed in National

Qualifications Frameworks (NQFs), to be

published on Europass. This is already

possible today, but on a voluntary basis.

N/A

Measures taken to ensure a shared

understanding of the data

Please list such measures

• As per article 9(1,2), alignment of

National Qualifications Frameworks

(NQFs) level to European Qualifications

Framework (EQF) levels

• As per article 9(6), use of common ESCO

classification for skills terminology.

• Enhancement of the existing

Qualifications Comparison Tool in

Europass

N/A

Use of commonly agreed open

technical specifications and

standards

• No new technical specifications foreseen

compared to current situation.

N/A

EN 57 EN

Please list such measures

EN 58 EN

4.5. Measures to support digital implementation

High-level description of measures supporting digital implementation

Description of the measure Reference(s) to the

requirement(s)

Commission

role

(if applicable)

Actors to be

involved

(if applicable)

Expected timeline

(if applicable)

As indicated in Article 3(6), “the

Commission shall adopt implementing

acts laying down detailed provisions

concerning the agreed common language,

issuance formats and protocols for digital

qualification attestations across the Union

and the formats and protocols for

transfers of lists of awarding bodies,

accreditations and qualifications included

in national qualifications frameworks for

issuing and verifying digital qualification

attestations. Those implementing acts

shall be adopted in accordance with the

examination procedure referred to in

Article 15(2).

Article 3 (1-3)

Article 3 (4-5)

Article 4 (1‑5)

Article 5 (1)

Article 6 (1‑3)

Article 7 (1‑2)

Article 8 (1)

Article 8 (3-5)

Article 9 (1‑4)

Article 12 (1‑2)

Article 13 (1‑4)

Drafting and

adoption of

implementing

acts

As per Article

14, “the

Commission

shall be assisted

by a committee.

That committee

shall be a

committee

within the

meaning of

Regulation (EU)

No 182/2011”

Reference implementation of the

verification tool

To ensure trust in and interoperability of

digital qualification attestations across

the Union, Member States

should establish mechanisms and tools

Recital 16 Provision of a

reference

software

European

Commission

Member States

EN 59 EN

enabling relying parties such

as employers and public authorities to

verify the authenticity and validity of a

qualification and the accreditation of

an awarding body.

To facilitate common verification

processes and reduce administrative

burdens, the Commission may support

Member States by providing a reference

software supporting secure, efficient and

non-discriminatory verification

processes.

Pilot with Member States/issuers - Run a pilot Member States

authorities,

awarding

bodies, digital

issuers (QTSPs

or PUB-Issuers),

qualification

holders

EN EN

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Strasbourg, 15.9.2026

COM(2026) 992 final

ANNEXES 1 to 5

ANNEXES

to the

Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE

COUNCIL

on portability of qualifications and skills and amending Regulation (EU) 2018/1724

("Skills Portabilty Act")

{SEC(2026) 992 final} - {SWD(2026) 992 final} - {SWD(2026) 993 final} -

{SWD(2026) 994 final}

EN 1

EN

Annex I

Union standard specifications for digital qualification attestations

1. The digital qualification attestation and the tools and systems relevant for its

issuance and verification shall comply with W3C Verifiable Credential Data Model

and with Regulation (EU) No 910/2014.

2. The digital qualification attestation and information on the awarding body,

accreditation and qualification shall use a common semantic model which is the

European Learning Model(1).

(1) https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/dataset/-

/resource?uri=http://publications.europa.eu/resource/dataset/snb-model

EN 2

EN

Annex II

Specifications for data fields in digital qualification attestations referred to in Article

4(2)

1. Mandatory data fields:

FIELD NAME DESCRIPTION

Given Name The holder's given name

Family Name The holder's family name

Date of Birth The holder's date of birth

Birthplace

The country as an alpha-2 country code as specified ISO

3166-1, or the state, province, district, or local area or the

municipality, city, town, or village where the user to

whom the holder's data relates was born

Nationality

One or more alpha-2 country codes as specified in ISO

3166-1 representing the nationality (or nationalities) of

the holder

Qualification Title The official title of the qualification provided in at least

one specified language

Qualification Title in

commonly agreed

language

The official title in commonly agreed language

Field of Education

and/or Training

The field of study, classified in accordance with the

International Standard Classification of Education Fields

of Education and Training (ISCED-F-2013)

Valid From The date and time when the digital qualification

attestation was issued

Valid Until The date and time the digital qualification attestation

ceases to be valid

EQF Level The applicable level of the European Qualifications

Framework

NQF Level The qualification level as specified in the national

qualifications framework

Issuer

The legal identifier, name and location of the issuing

organisation which issued the digital qualification

attestation

Awarding Body/Bodies The legal identifier, name and location of the awarding

EN 3

EN

body/bodies that awarded the qualification

Country/countries of

Award

The Member State(s) in which the qualification was

awarded

Where applicable,

Region of Award

The code of the region in which the qualification was

awarded, where applicable

Date of Award The date on which the qualification was officially

awarded

Learning

Outcomes(1) OR

Description of the

Qualification(2)

Summary of learning outcomes OR description of the

qualification composed of knowledge, skills and

responsibility and autonomy

Accreditation Details

Information on the accreditation of the awarding body,

including jurisdiction and the relevant regulatory

framework

Professional Experience,

where applicable Professional experience gained to obtain the qualification

Professional Title,

where applicable

Professional title obtained as a result of qualification

being awarded

Access Rights, where

applicable

A statement on the access rights to regulated professions

conferred by the qualification

2. Optional data fields:

FIELD NAME DESCRIPTION

Holder's National ID

and the country National ID and country issuing it

Uniform resource

Identifier (URI)

to qualification standard

URI to qualification standard published in a qualification

database such as Europass established by Decision (EU)

2018/646 of the European Parliament and of the

Council1

(1) To be provided for qualifications issued as of [date of entry of application of the Regulation] or, if

available in Member State's NQF, before that date. Leaning outcomes shall be described in accordance with the

European Guidelines for the development and writing of short, learning outcomes-based descriptions of

qualifications, see https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/files/6222_en.pdf (2) Description shall be provided where no Learning Outcome is available. However, for digital

qualification attestations awarded between [date of adoption date of this regulation minus 10 years], the

description of qualification may become an optional data field. (3) Decision (EU) 2018/646 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 April 2018 on a

common framework for the provision of better services for skills and qualifications (Europass) and

repealing Decision No 2241/2004/EC (OJ L 112, 2.5.2018, pp. 42–50), ELI: https://eur-

lex.europa.eu/eli/dec/2018/646/oj )

EN 4

EN

ESCO Skills reference Reference to European Skills, Competences, and

Occupations classification

Duration of Study

The official duration of the learning programme

expressed in time or credits of the European Credit

Transfer and Accumulation System2

Grades / Marks The grades or marks achieved, accompanied by an

explanation of the grading scale used

Mode of Learning The mode of delivery, such as full-time, part-time,

distance learning

Main subjects / modules A list of the main subjects or modules covered by the

programme of study

Practical Training Details of a mandatory practical training that

was completed

Assessment Methods Information on the methods used for assessment (e.g.

examination, project work)

Language of Study The primary language(s) in which the programme was

taught

Thesis/ Final Project

Title The title of the final thesis or project, if applicable

International Mobility Information on any international mobility periods

undertaken as a part of the programme

3. Data fields covered in this Annex can be supplemented by additional data only as far

as it is necessary for the functioning of the relevant data in the EUDI Wallet system.

Otherwise, no other data fields than those covered by this Annex shall be included in

digital qualification attestation referred to in Article 4(2).

(4) https://education.ec.europa.eu/education-levels/higher-education/inclusive-and-connected-higher-

education/european-credit-transfer-and-accumulation-system

EN 5

EN

Annex III

European Qualifications Framework

Each of the 8 levels is defined by a set of descriptors indicating the learning

outcomes relevant to qualifications at that level in any system of qualifications.

Knowledge Skills Responsibility and

autonomy

Knowledge

is described

as

theoretical

and/or

factual.

skills are described as

cognitive (involving the

use of logical, intuitive

and creative thinking)

and practical (involving

manual dexterity and

the use of methods,

mate rials, tools and

instruments).

responsibility and

autonomy is

described as the

ability of the learner

to apply knowledge

and skills

autonomously and

with responsibility

Level 1 The

learning outcomes

relevant to Level 1

are

basic

general

knowledge

basic skills required to

carry out simple tasks

work or study under

direct supervision in

a structured context

Level 2 The

learning outcomes

relevant to Level 2

are

basic

factual

knowledge

of a field of

work or

study

basic cognitive and

practical skills required

to use relevant

information in order to

carry out tasks and to

solve routine problems

using sim ple rules and

tools

work or study under

supervision with

some autonomy

Level 3 The

learning outcomes

relevant to Level 3

are

knowledge

of facts,

principles,

processes

and general

concepts, in

a field of

work or

study

a range of cognitive and

practical skills required

to accomplish tasks and

solve problems by

selecting and applying

basic methods, tools,

materials and

information

take responsibility

for completion of

tasks in work or

study adapt own

behaviour to

circumstances in

solving problems

Level 4 The

learning outcomes

relevant to Level 4

are

factual and

theoretical

knowledge

in broad

con texts

within a

a range of cognitive and

practical skills required

to generate solutions to

specific problems in a

field of work or study

exercise self-

management within

the guidelines of

work or study

contexts that are

usually predictable,

EN 6

EN

Knowledge Skills Responsibility and

autonomy

field of

work or

study

but are subject to

change supervise the

routine work of

others, taking some

responsibility for the

evaluation and

improvement of

work or study

activities

Level 5 (*) The

learning outcomes

relevant to Level 5

are

comprehens

ive,

specialised,

factual and

theoretical

knowledge

within a

field of

work or

study and

an

awareness

of the

boundaries

of that

knowledge

a comprehensive range

of cognitive and

practical skills required

to develop creative

solutions to abstract

problems

exercise management

and supervision in

con texts of work or

study activities

where there is

unpredictable change

review and develop

performance of self

and others

Level 6 (**) The

learning outcomes

relevant to Level 6

are

advanced

knowledge

of a field of

work or

study,

involving a

critical

understandi

ng of

theories and

principles

advanced skills,

demonstrating mastery

and innovation,

required to solve

complex and

unpredictable problems

in a specialised field of

work or study

manage complex

technical or

professional

activities or projects,

taking responsibility

for decision-making

in unpredictable

work or study

contexts take

responsibility for

managing

professional

development of

individuals and

groups

Level 7 (***) The

learning outcomes

relevant to Level 7

are

highly

specialised

knowledge,

some of

specialised problem-

solving skills required

in research and/or

innovation in order to

manage and

transform work or

study contexts that

are complex,

EN 7

EN

Knowledge Skills Responsibility and

autonomy

which is at

the

forefront of

knowledge

in a field of

work or

study, as the

basis for

original

thinking

and/or

research

critical

awareness

of

knowledge

issues in a

field and at

the interface

between

different

fields

develop new knowledge

and procedures and to

integrate knowledge

from different fields

unpredictable and

require new strategic

approaches take

responsibility for

contributing to

professional knowled

ge and practice

and/or for reviewing

the strategic

performance of

teams

Level 8 (****) The

learning outcomes

relevant to Level 8

are

knowledge

at the most

advanced

frontier of a

field of

work or

study and at

the interface

between

fields

the most advanced and

specialised skills and

techniques, including

synthesis and

evaluation, required to

solve critical problems

in research and/or

innovation and to

extend and redefine

existing knowledge or

professional practice

demonstrate

substantial authority,

innovation,

autonomy, scholarly

and professional

integrity and

sustained

commitment to the

development of new

ideas or processes at

the forefront of work

or study contexts

including research

Compatibility with the Framework for Qualifications of the European Higher

Education Area

The Framework for Qualifications of the European Higher Education Area provides

descriptors for three cycles agreed by the ministers responsible for higher education

at their meeting in Bergen in May 2005 in the framework of the Bologna process.

Each cycle descriptor offers a generic statement of typical expectations of

achievements and abilities associated with qualifications that represent the end of

that cycle.

EN 8

EN

(*) The descriptor for the short cycle developed by the Joint Quality Initiative as part

of the Bologna process, (that can be within or linked to the first cycle), corresponds

to the learning outcomes for EQF level 5.

(**) The descriptor for the first cycle corresponds to the learning outcomes for EQF

level 6.

(***) The descriptor for the second cycle corresponds to the learning outcomes for

EQF level 7.

(****) The descriptor for the third cycle corresponds to the learning outcomes for

EQF level 8.

EN 9

EN

Annex IV

Minimum data requirements referred to in Article 8(1) point (b)

1. Minimum data requirements for information on qualifications:

DATA Mandatory / Optional

Title of qualification Mandatory

Field(1) Mandatory

Country(countries)/Region(s) (code) Mandatory

EQF Level Mandatory

NQF level Mandatory

Description of learning outcomes Mandatory

Awarding body/bodies3 Mandatory

Credit points/ notional workload needed

to achieve the learning outcomes Optional

Internal quality assurance processes Optional

External quality assurance / regulatory

body Optional

Further information on the qualification Optional

Identifier of related degrees for the same

study programme Optional

Source of information Optional

Link to relevant supplements Optional

Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) of the

qualification Mandatory

Entry requirements to obtain a

qualification Optional

Expiry date (if relevant) Optional

Ways to acquire qualification Optional

(1) ISCED FoET2013 (2) The minimum required information on the awarding body/bodies should facilitate to find information

about it, which would include its name, or if applicable the name of the group of awarding completed with a URI

or contact information.

EN 10

EN

Relationship to occupations or

occupational fields Optional

2. Minimum data requirements for information on awarding bodies:

PROPERTY DESCRIPTION MANDATORY/OPTION

AL

Unique Identifier Unique identifier for the

awarding body record Mandatory

Legal Name

The organisation's legal

name (multilingual, one

per language)

Mandatory

Address The identifiable address of

the organisation Mandatory

Registration Identifier

Legal registration

identifier with the

registering authority

Optional

Accreditation URI Link to associated

Accreditation record(s) Optional

Type Nature/genre of the

organisation Optional

Status Publication status Optional

Contact Information Contact Information Optional

Publisher Entity responsible for

publishing the record Optional

Historical Awarding Body

Reference

Link to another awarding

body in case of succession Optional

3. Minimum data requirements for information on accreditations

PROPERTY DESCRIPTION MANDATORY/OPTION

AL

Unique Identifier A unique identifier for the

accreditation record Mandatory

Title

A name given to the

resource (multilingual,

one per language)

Mandatory

EN 11

EN

Accrediting Agent

The Quality Assuring

Authority issuing the

accreditation decision

Mandatory

Awarding Body URI

The awarding body whose

activities are being

accredited, expressed as a

URI

Mandatory

Type

The nature/genre of the

accreditation (controlled

vocabulary)

Mandatory

Jurisdiction

Administrative territories

where the accreditation is

valid

Mandatory

Description A free-text account of the

resource Mandatory

Decision The decision issued by the

quality assuring authority Mandatory

Report Date of formal issuance Mandatory

Date of Issuance

Period in which the

accreditation is/was

applicable

Optional

EQF Level EQF levels the

accreditation covers Optional

[Abstract] Programme

Specific

programme/qualification

the accreditation applies to

Optional

Supplementary Document Additional public

documentation Optional

Publisher Entity responsible for

publishing the record Optional

EN 12

EN

Annex V

Specification for data fields in digital qualification attestations referred to in Article 9(4)

1. Minimum mandatory data fields

FIELD NAME DESCRIPTION

Given Name The holder's given name 

Family Name The holder's date of birth

Date of Birth

The country as an alpha-2 country code as

specified ISO 3166-1, or the state, province,

district, or local area or the municipality, city,

town, or village where the user to whom the

holder's data relates was born

Birthplace 

The country as an alpha-2 country code as

specified ISO 3166-1, or the state, province,

district, or local area or the municipality, city,

town, or village where the user to whom the

holder's data relates was born

Nationality

One or more alpha-2 country codes as specified in

ISO 3166-1 representing the nationality

(nationalities) of a holder

Qualification Title The official title of the qualification provided in at

least one language

Valid From The date and time when the digital

qualification attestation was issued

Valid Until The date and time the digital qualification

attestation ceases to be valid

EQF Level (if applicable)

If available, and only for qualifications awarded

after 2008 and in accordance with the relevant

national qualifications framework referencing to

the European Qualifications Framework: the

applicable level of the European Qualification

Framework

NQF Level (if applicable) If available, for the qualification specified in the

national qualifications framework

Issuer

The legal identifier, name and location of the

issuing organisation which issued the digital

qualification attestation

Awarding Body/Bodies The legal identifier, name and location of the

EN 13

EN

awarding body/bodies that awarded the

qualification

Country/countries of Award The Member State(s) in which the qualification

was awarded

Where applicable, Region of

Award

The code of the region in which the qualification

was awarded, where applicable

Date of Award The date on which the qualification was officially

awarded

Accreditation Evidence

Formal evidence of the awarding body's

accreditation at the time of award, including,

where the awarding body no longer exists in its

original legal form, evidence of succession

establishing the chain of continuity to the entity

providing the evidence

Professional Experience, where

applicable

Professional experience gained to obtain the

qualification

Professional Title, where

applicable

Professional title obtained as a result of

qualification being awarded

Access Rights, where

applicable

A statement on the access rights to regulated

professions conferred by the qualification

2. Optional data fields:

FIELD NAME DESCRIPTION

Holder's National ID and the

country National ID and country issuing it

Qualification Title in a

commonly agreed language The official title in commonly agreed language

Field of Education and/or

Training

The field of study, classified according to the

ISCED fields of Education and Training (ISCED-

F-2013)

Description of the

Qualification

Description of the qualification composed of

knowledge, skills and responsibility and autonomy

ESCO Skills reference Reference to European Skills, Competences, and

Occupations classification

Duration of Study

The official duration of the learning programme

expressed in time or credits of the European Credit

Transfer and Accumulation System

EN 14

EN

Grades / Marks The grades or marks achieved, accompanied by an

explanation of the grading scale used

Copy of Original Qualification

Document

An embedded image or scan of the original

physical qualification issued to the holder, where

available 4

Mode of Learning The mode of delivery, such as full-time, part-time,

distance learning

Main subjects / modules A list of the main subjects or modules covered by

the programme of study

Practical Training Details of a mandatory practical training that was

completed

Assessment Methods Information on the methods used for assessment

(e.g. examination, project work)

Language The primary language(s) in which the programme

was taught

Thesis/ Final Project Title The title of the final thesis or project, if applicable

International Mobility Information on any international mobility periods

undertaken as a part of the programme

3. Data fields covered in this Annex can be supplemented by additional data only as far

as it is necessary for the functioning of the relevant data in the EUDI Wallet system.

Otherwise, no other data fields than those covered by this Annex shall be included in

digital qualification attestations referred to in Article 9(4).

4 https://education.ec.europa.eu/education-levels/higher-education/inclusive-and-connected-higher-

education/european-credit-transfer-and-accumulation-system