The European certification of competences in information and documentation, or Euro-certification, established since January 2005 by the certifying bodies, members of the European consortium CERTIDoc, offers several advantages for professionals:

the European recognition of the level of competences,

a "point of argument" against employers or clients (an assurance of professionalism for the skill-level shown, recognized by peers, based on Bye-laws, common to all professionals in information and documentation and to several countries),

helpful to career or geographic mobility (within Europe),

beneficial to the collective recognition of the profession and helpful towards clarifying the positioning of the various job levels in information-documentation.

Unlike an academic diploma that recognises the acquisition of knowledge, the certification recognises experience and professional practice, that which is of interest to employers (employability, ability to cope with a professional situation, etc...). Given the changing nature of requirements, tools and practices, these competences are checked every five years.

The certification is also a way to validate an experience in the field, especially in the absence of an academic qualification or when a diploma was obtained a long time ago, or when there was significant progress in the career path (to recognize officially the evolution of the level of qualification).

The Euro-certificate is a credible document because it is issued according to a known procedure by an independent body controlled collectively at European level.