On April 9, 2026, the Organic Law for Economic Reactivation through the Strengthening of the Linkage between the Productive Economic Sector and Education was published in Second Supplement No. 261 of the Official Registry. Its purpose is to strengthen the connection between the educational system and the productive sector, with direct impact on the labor and business environment.

1. Purpose and Scope of Application (Art. 1)

The Law aims to:

• Strengthen the linkage between education and the productive sector.
• Promote productivity, competitiveness, and youth employment generation.

The Law applies to:

• Natural and legal persons.
• Public and private sectors
• Institutions of the National Education System, Higher Education System, National Professional Qualifications System, and other actors involved in educational processes.

2. Objectives Related to Employment and Productivity (Art. 2) 

The following objectives are highlighted:

• Promote employability and labor market integration.
• Develop competencies aligned with labor market needs.
• Encourage dual education and continuous training.
• Incorporate qualified human talent into the productive sector.

3. Key Definitions for the Labor Environment (Art. 3) 

Relevant concepts are incorporated:

• Dual education: Combination of academic education and practical training within companies. It promotes shared responsibility between productive sector organizations and educational institutions, ensuring the quality of the training process and its alignment with the needs of the productive economic sector.

• Receiving training entities: Natural or legal persons, public or private, domestic or foreign, from the productive and service sectors, which provide learning environments aimed at developing labor competencies, training, and professional education through practical experiences, while jointly assuming responsibility for student training.

• Business chambers, guilds, and sectoral associations linked to dual education: Non-profit organizations from productive or service sectors that may participate as coordinators and advisors between educational institutions and receiving training entities, promoting relevance, quality, and innovation.
• Labor competencies: Integrated set of knowledge, skills, abilities, attitudes, and values effectively applied by a person in a real work context to fulfill the functions and responsibilities of a position or occupational area.
• Recognition of prior learning: Process through which knowledge, skills, abilities, and experiences acquired through formal education, non-formal education, work, or self-learning are identified, evaluated, and validated in order to grant official recognition to such learning.

4. Professional Validation through Work Experience (Art. 5)

• Higher education institutions may implement professional validation mechanisms through the recognition of learning and competencies acquired through work experience for admission into technical, technological, and dual education programs, in accordance with regulations issued by the Higher Education Council.

• This mechanism shall not apply to programs involving risks to life or personal integrity.

• The Public-Private Committee for Technical, Technological, and Dual Education is created as a coordination body between the public, private, and academic sectors, responsible for designing, implementing, and strengthening policies related to technical, technological, and dual education in alignment with productive sector needs.

• The Committee shall include representatives from the productive sector, educational entities, and authorities from production, education, and labor governing bodies, and may include other actors depending on the subject matter.

6. Powers of the Public-Private Committee for Technical, Technological, and Dual Education (Art. 8)

Main responsibilities include:

• Generating partnerships between companies and educational institutions.
• Designing strategies aligned with labor market needs.
• Promoting financing and applied research.
• Issuing recommendations regarding education and employment.

• The Higher Education Council shall promote the creation of academic-productive clusters composed of public, private, and academic sector actors, aimed at aligning education with productive sector needs and promoting economic development.
• These spaces will align academic offerings with labor demand, foster innovation, and strengthen the training and certification of labor competencies according to market needs.

• Educational institutions must enter into agreements with receiving training entities for the development of learning in real work environments, according to defined training plans.
• The process shall be supervised by tutors designated both by the educational institution and the receiving entity, ensuring compliance with educational objectives.

It is expressly established that:

• The student-company relationship is exclusively educational and practical-learning oriented and does not constitute an employment relationship.
• The Labor Code and related regulations shall not apply.
• Educational institutions must provide students with insurance coverage for accidents occurring during training activities inside and outside their facilities.
• Respect for students’ rights must be guaranteed through prevention, intervention, and response protocols for possible violations.
• Educational authorities shall establish administrative and academic measures to ensure compliance with the educational objectives of the dual education modality.
• Assigning tasks unrelated to academic training is expressly prohibited and must be reflected in agreements between educational institutions and companies.
• Supervision of compliance shall correspond to educational institutions and competent governing bodies, without prejudice to applicable labor oversight.

The Higher Education Council shall implement a national dual education registry including information on higher education institutions, receiving entities, academic offerings, and number of students.

• The processing and exchange of information must comply with the Organic Law on Personal Data Protection.
• Only institutional, statistical, or aggregated information that does not allow identification of personal data shall be public.

Receiving training entities shall have access to the following incentives:

• Institutional public recognition granted by the Public-Private Committee for Technical, Technological, and Dual Education.
• Access to preferential credit lines for institutional strengthening, in accordance with current financial regulations.
• Preferential access for their personnel to scholarships and state financial aid programs through higher education governing bodies.

The Law guarantees equal opportunities and non-discrimination in training and productive sector linkage processes.

Priority participation is granted to:

• People from rural areas or with limited access to education
• Women, especially in sectors with labor gaps
• Persons with disabilities
• Vulnerable youth

Institutions must implement access measures such as scholarships, preferential quotas, and technical support.

Receiving entities that include these groups shall receive priority regarding the incentives established by the Law.

• Public higher education institutions implementing dual education programs must maintain active agreements with actors from the productive economic sector to ensure the existence and quality of training environments. They must also incorporate this modality into their institutional planning and budgeting, ensuring the resources necessary for its implementation and continuous improvement.

• Additionally, these institutions shall be required to report the implementation of dual education and its linkage with the productive sector in their accountability processes and shall remain subject to monitoring, supervision, and control mechanisms established by competent authorities.

14. Transitional Provisions

• Hiring incentives (Third Transitional Provision): The labor authority must implement, within six months, non-economic incentive programs for employers hiring graduates from technical, technological, or dual education programs, as well as individuals certified through labor competencies, to promote labor market integration.
• Update of tax incentives (Eighth Transitional Provision): The Internal Revenue Service shall update, within ninety days, the regulations applicable to the implementation of tax incentives related to dual education.
• Preferential credit for the productive sector (Ninth Transitional Provision): The Monetary and Financial Policy and Regulation Board shall issue, within ninety days, the regulations necessary for implementing preferential credit segments aimed at strengthening entities linked to dual education.
• Vocational guidance and employment access (Eleventh Transitional Provision): The creation of the National Vocational and Professional Guidance System is established, including a national internship and first-employment platform connected to the dual education system, with the aim of facilitating labor market integration and strengthening the linkage between education and employment.

Should you require additional information, please contact us at:

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