The very rapid adoption of the CEFR in Europe and the increasingly widespread use of its scales of proficiency levels raised a number of policy issues, which led to the organisation of an intergovernmental Forum in Strasbourg in 2007 on « The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) and the development of language policies: challenges and responsibilities».

Noting that education is the responsibility of member states, one of the main conclusions of the Forum was that “rather than vis-à-vis the Council of Europe, it is towards one's own learners and one's European partners that one has a responsibility for making coherent, realistic use of the CEFR”.

One of the major consequences of this Forum was the initiative of the Committee of Ministers to address Recommendation CM/Rec (2008)7 to member states “on the use of the Council of Europe's ‘Common European Framework of Reference for Languages’ (CEFR) and the promotion of Plurilingualism”.
 

The intergovernmental Forum 2007 very quickly focused on the issue of responsibilities for appropriate use of the CEFR (Report - II.3), and agreed that:
“It is not the role of the Council of Europe to verify and validate the quality of the link between language examinations and the CEFR's proficiency levels. Member states are responsible for guaranteeing the quality and fairness of testing and assessment on the basis of the existing guidelines.”
Chapter II.3 – Report of the intergovernmental Forum on The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) and the development of language policies: challenges and responsibilities. Strasbourg, February 2007.

• REPORT OF THE FORUM: « The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) and the development of language policies: challenges and responsibilities».
• Follow-up initiatives