June 2023 marked the time for the new release of the European Digital Credential for Learning (EDC) infrastructure (version 2.0 – formerly 1.8). This release includes major changes that will improve the interoperability of EDC with other existing initiatives as well as new improvements to the existing tools. These improvements together with the future development roadmap were presented in a Webinar. The video recording of the webinar is available below and you can refer to the presentation slides (PDF) for more information. This session provided a valuable opportunity to exchange with stakeholders, providing clarification on technical specificities and gaining inspiration for the future developments of the EDC infrastructure. 

The session concentrated on the following changes, that you can access in further detail through our two-pager(PDF).

• Change from XML to JSON-LD credentials aligning with the international W3C "Verifiable Credential" standards. This change ensures compatibility with compliant wallets and allows for the acceptance of credentials by any JSON-LD native system. Additionally, the new version incorporates the JADES signature standard for signing credentials.
• Issuing credentials in ELM v3 through the Online Credential Builder. In May 2023, the European Commission introduced version 3 of the European Learning Model (ELM). This stable, long-term support version facilitates the documentation of learning data and the issuance of digitally-signed credentials. To ensure backward compatibility, old XML credentials stored in Europass wallets have been automatically converted to ELM v3.
• Improving mandated issue to allow education and training providers to delegate the sealing and sending of credentials to another organisation, with formal conditions of the mandating agreement now specified and embedded in the credential itself. This improvement enables a wider range of organisations, including smaller and non-formal learning providers, to utilize the mandated issue feature.
• Automatic extension of credential validity to maintain their indefinite validity beyond the expiry date of the e-seal. Previously, the validity of EDCs was tied to the validity of the e-seal used for issuance. This meant that once the e-seal used to seal the credential would expire, the EDC would no longer pass the validity check, regardless of whether this credential should actually still be valid.

Finally, the new version of the infrastructure includes a variety of improvements to the visualisation of the online credential builder and of the EDC the viewer, allowing for an easier credential creation process..

For further information or support regarding EDC or ELM, you can contact the support team via email.