The purpose of this article is to consider the effects of the currently emerging qualifications frameworks upon the recognition of qualifications within the European Higher Education Area. We will therefore concentrate on the main principles of the assessment of foreign higher education qualifications, on the national qualifications frameworks which are currently emerging in European countries, and on the European overarching frameworks, that provide descriptors for the main levels of qualifications at European level to which the national qualifications frameworks are being aligned and which establish how the qualifications can be "translated" between the national qualifications frameworks. The article will reflect on the potential role of qualifications frameworks in the improvement of recognition, the situation today and the possible challenges. (Contains 14 notes.)