As a result of the VETree project, training material on veteran tree management has become easily and freely accesible, both for training centres and arboricultural professionals. This has led to an increased awareness about the importance and specific management of veteran trees. As defined in the VETree project, there is now an increased number of training possibilities on the subject: now that the project has ended, both partner organisations and others continue organising the VETree basic course or have included veteran tree management in arboricultural and forestry training. In addition translations to additional languages are being produced. Nevertheless, there is no formal recognition of skills and knowledge in veteran tree management. When contracting an arboricultural professional, regardless of any previous training, it is impossible to assess whether he or she has reached the required minimum level of skills and knowledge to complete the assignment. When dealing with invaluable and irreplaceable veteran and ancient trees with high cultural, landscape and ecological values, owners and site managers are reluctant to delegate work to unfamiliar contractors, leading to non-transparent tender procedures and market foreclosure. This project aims at harmonising skills recognition in veteran tree management, which will increase mobility of tree workers across Europe and raise standards in veteran tree care across Europe. This goal will be pursued by defining a common European minimum level of skills and knowledge for arboricultural and forestry professionals and defining a clear and objective certification procedure to test the skills and knowledge level in veteran tree management of arborists and foresters. To optimise the design of the VETcert certification procedure, the project will start with a survey of existing certification and assessment schemes, both within arboriculture and forestry and beyond. The combined network of all project partners allows for an almost complete coverage of certification initiatives on a global, European, national and regional level. Starting from this survey will assure that we include best practices in certification and that we avoid common pitfalls in the setup of a certification scheme.Parallel to the survey of certification schemes, national/regional/informal standards in veteran tree management will be collected and reviewed. For this, we can partially rely on work already done during the VETree project (survey of training material). Based on this input a common European minimum standard in veteran tree management skills and knowledge level will be developed. This will be done at 2 operational levels: a European minimum standard for practicing arborists/foresters and a European minimum standard for consulting arborists/foresters. Since arboriculture and forestry are generally not an 'exact science', different approaches exist to veteran tree management. The wide geographic distribution and diverse background of the partnership, along with thorough testing and extensive feedback loops with all stakeholders, will ensure that different approaches to veteran tree management are taken into account while developing the standards and thus that the project's products will have a wide acceptance.Once the standards have been developed, comparison with existing training material (mainly as a result of the VETree project) will allow the detection of possible gaps. The project will aim to fill key gaps, which we anticipate may largely relate to the need for very practical based training which may be best fulfilled by using visual media such as videos and still photographs, and case studies.Once the common standards have been agreed upon, the VETcert certification and examination procedure will be designed for each operational level (practicing/consulting), as an add-on to existing certification schemes. A key certification scheme to take into account will be the European Tree Worker/European Tree Technician certification, Europe's major arboricultural certification scheme, administered by the European Arboricultural Council (included in the partnership). Additional test case certification schemes will be national certification schemes in the UK, France and Czech Republic, countries where ETW/ETT is not (yet) widespread. This approach and the broad partnership with several key organisations will ensure an easy adoption of the VETCert certification products by the industry (both contracting parties and contractors) and a cost effective, low maintenance but secure future of the project's output. Multiple events, especially during the last project activities, aim at reaching all target groups with a customised message.