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Definitions For the purposes of this Decision, the following definitions apply:

(a) ‘certificate supplement’ means a document attached to a vocational education and training or professional certificate issued by the competent authorities or bodies, in order to make it easier for third persons – particularly in another country – to understand the learning outcomes acquired by the holder of the qualification, as well as the nature, level, context, content and status of the education and training completed and skills acquired;

(b) ‘diploma supplement’ means a document attached to a higher education diploma issued by the competent authorities or bodies, in order to make it easier for third persons – particularly in another country – to understand the learning outcomes acquired by the holder of the qualification, as well as the nature, level, context, content and status of the education and training completed and skills acquired;

(c) ‘Europass supplements’ means a set of documents, such as diploma supplements and certificate supplements, issued by the competent authorities or bodies;

(d) ‘guidance’ means a continuous process that enables individuals to identify their capacities, skills and interests, through a range of individual and collective activities to make educational, training and occupational decisions and to manage their individual life paths in learning, work and other settings in which those capacities and skills are learned or used;

(e) ‘European dimension of guidance’ means cooperation and support at Union level to strengthen policies, systems and practices for guidance within the Union;

(f) ‘qualification’ means a formal outcome of an assessment and validation process which is obtained when a competent authority or body determines that an individual has achieved learning outcomes to given standards;

(g) ‘assessment of skills’ means the process or method used to evaluate, measure and eventually describe, through self-assessment or assessment certified by a third party, or both, the skills of individuals acquired through formal, non-formal or informal settings;

(h) ‘self-assessment of skills’ means the process of systematic reflection by individuals on their skills through reference to an established description of skills;

(i) ‘skills intelligence’ means available quantitative or qualitative analysis of aggregated data on skills from existing sources in relation to the labour market and of corresponding learning opportunities in the education and training system which can contribute to guidance and counselling, recruitment processes, the choice of education, training and career paths;

(j) ‘authentication services’ means technical processes, such as electronic signatures and website authentication, which allow users to verify information, such as their identity, through Europass;

(k) ‘technical interoperability’ means the ability of information and communication technology systems to interact so as to enable the sharing of information, achieved through agreement by all parties and owners of the information;

(l) ‘validation’ means the process by which a competent authority or body confirms that an individual has acquired learning outcomes, including those acquired in non-formal and informal learning settings, measured against a relevant standard, and which consists of four distinct phases, namely identification, documentation, assessment and certification of the results of the assessment in the form of a full qualification, credits or a partial qualification, as appropriate and in line with national circumstances;

(m) ‘open standards’ means technical standards that have been developed in a collaborative process, and have been published for free use by any interested party;

(n) ‘online platform’ means a web-based application that provides information and tools to end users and allows them to complete specific tasks online;

(o) ‘personal data’ means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person.