Changes to Consumer Law require educational institutions to provide free certificates to their students.

The new law, called the Consumer Protection Project, came into effect at the end of last December and established a series of legal modifications that encourage the protection of consumer rights in various areas. Some of these changes to the regulation are focused on higher education, and specifically, their compliance will be overseen by the Superintendency of Higher Education (SES).

One of these reforms regulates the obligation of higher education institutions to issue, free of charge, various academic and debt certificates to their students. “Higher education institutions, professional and technical training institutes shall issue, free of charge, certificates of studies, grades, debt status, or other similar documents, upon request of the student, former student, or anyone who has suspended their studies or is in arrears with the respective educational institution,” states the new Law No. 21,398.

It is also established that the request for these documents may be made by the interested party up to twice a year; that the institution will have a period of up to 10 business days to deliver them, counted from the submission of the respective request; and that they may be issued in electronic format, provided that the educational institutions have the necessary electronic means, since if they do not have them or if they are expressly requested, they must be delivered on paper.

Related documents

• Check the Law
• Ordinary Official Letter No. 320 regarding the scope of the expression “or other analogues”