Today, the main event in the social and labour sphere of Russia is, of course, the introduction of the National Qualifications System (abbreviated NSC), which comes to replace the old system of qualification characteristics. In general, the NSC in Russia is represented by four interrelated elements: professional standards, independent assessment of qualifications, professional and public accreditation of educational programs and a directory of the most popular professions. The professional standard at the legislative level states the requirements for the type of activity. Independent assessment of qualifications is a mechanism for personnel certification for compliance with professional standards, and professional public accreditation of educational programs is their assessment for compliance with the requirements of professional standards. In European countries, such systems have existed for a long time and accumulated some experience in this field. The purpose of this article is to consider the common and distinctive features of the European and Russian systems of national qualifications, as well as the experience of building such a system in Russia. In addition, the work will present the differences between the previously existing system of qualifications in Russia and the modern one. The article will show the difficulties of embedding the new system in Russian labour legislation. In addition, problems in the activities of society that were caused by the new system will be considered, its advantages and disadvantages will be considered. Particular attention will be paid to the analysis of the new qualification assessment system and its comparison with similar ones abroad. Today, Russia is trying, using the experience of European countries, to introduce a system of awarding qualifications outside educational institutions in special centers for the assessment of qualifications. The difference between the Russian model and the existing analogues abroad is that these centers are represented by commercial organizations, while education is carried out by state educational institutions. Such a docking of the state system of education and business has given rise to a number of problems, which will be discussed in the article. The main feature of the national qualifications system in Russia is a synthesis of the obligation (imperativeness) and the market fundamentals of the system itself.