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The European credit system for vocational education and training (ECVET) reflector study was carried out on behalf of the European Commission (EC) between December 2005 and February 2007, shortly before the ECVET consultation phase. It is embedded in the general objectives of the EC and Parliament on enhancing mobility of apprentices (both young people and adults) within vocational education and training (VET). The study mandate was to analyse the relationships between the features of the ECVET, as proposed by the EC in its consultation document, and the existing regulations and practices of assessment, validation and certification as well as accumulation and transfer of learning outcomes in the national qualifications and VET systems in Europe. The results presented in this report rely on the analysis of documents selected by national experts and compiled in a database containing 417 documents. The scope of the study and its focus on actual development required a regional survey design and the active participation of 55 regional experts who carried out a total of 186 standardised interviews in 32 countries. It evaluates both the status quo and the dynamics revealed by VET systems (which in many countries are indeed considerable) to identify both synergy effects and obstacles which may occur while introducing the ECVET. The study found that among the experts there was a high level of acceptance of the view that the ECVET might make a valued contribution to the promotion of lifelong learning and, in particular, the integration of various phases of an individual learning pathway. This fact indicates that the ECVET, in addition to its primary goal of promoting cross-border mobility, is regarded to bear the potential for facilitating national endeavours to modernise VET systems.