During the last 5-10 years, a number of countries have introduced methods and systems for identifying, validating, and recognizing prior and nonformal learning that can be viewed as tools for improving the transparency and transfer of skills. In most cases, they have been operational for a comparatively short time, which makes it difficult to decide whether expectations regarding them are justified. Some of the most important initiatives and innovations connected with the identification and validation of prior and nonformal learning include examples from Australia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, and United Kingdom. The French, Australian, Irish, and British methodologies are based on related principles, introducing different versions of portfolios, dossiers, or passports. Finland, Germany, and Japan have been reluctant to introduce the portfolio method. In spite of similarities in design, countries tend to apply the methodologies in different ways. This difference may be seen as a difference between centralized and decentralized systems. Initiatives and ideas on a European level are the Individual Portfolio Project and the Personal Skills Card and the European Skills Accreditations system. Some basic questions related to the legitimacy of the new methods and systems deal with the institutional basis, flexibility versus fragmentation, transparency and visibility, and transfer. (German, English, and French versions appear in side-by-side columns. Appendixes contain 27 references and 18 notes.) (YLB)