Since 2008 the key stakeholder in the Inland Waterway Transport (IWT) sector are cooperating towards the harmonisation and modernisation of professional qualifications in inland navigation. These stakeholders consists of: European Commission (DG Move), River Commissions (Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine (CCNR), International Sava River Basin Commission and the Danube Commission), EU Social Partners (European Skippers Organisation (ESO), European Barge Union (EBU) and European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) as well as the European IWT education and training (e&t) institutes (EDINNA). Following the activities in the FP7 project PLATINA, the European Commission installed in 2012 a Common Expert Group on Professional Qualifications in Inland Navigation (CEG) co-chaired by the CCNR, in order to start the revision of the 96/50/EC in place. This resulted in 2016 in a proposal from the European Commission for a directive on the Recognition of Professional Qualifications in Inland Navigation. One key item of this directive is the fact that the competences crew members on board of inland vessels should possess are laid down in an Annex, based on a series of research activities executed. The second key item is the fact that the students that will pass an exam in line with the new directive, will receive a Union certificate, increasing labour mobility throughout the EU. On the 27 December 2017, Directive 2017/2397 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the recognition of professional qualifications in IWT and repealing Council Directives 91/672/EEC and 96/50/EC has been published in the Official Journal of the EU. For this reason, the time has come to support the implementation of the competence based IWT e&t system throughout the EU. COMPETING will develop curricula and lesson materials, as well as a Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) system, to ensure the highest level of quality concerning the implementation of future proof IWT e&t