General information, not legal advice. The official places to check are ASQA’s pages for providers and the law itself on the Federal Register of Legislation.
The 30-day rule, as written
The instrument calls the documents “AQF certification documentation”: “the set of official documents which confirm that an AQF qualification or VET statement of attainment has been issued to an individual by an NVR registered training organisation or any other entity authorised to do so.”
Section 9, Issuance of AQF certification documentation
(1) “An NVR registered training organisation must not issue AQF certification documentation to any person unless the person is a VET student who the organisation has assessed as meeting the requirements of the training product.”
(2) “Where an NVR registered training organisation has assessed a VET student as meeting the requirements of the training product in accordance with subsection (1), the organisation must ensure the AQF certification documentation is issued to the VET student within 30 calendar days from the completion of the assessment, provided the VET student:”
- “has completed the AQF qualification or completed one or more units of an AQF qualification which they have subsequently withdrawn from; and”
- “has paid to the organisation all agreed fees associated with the training product.”
Both conditions sit inside the sentence that sets the 30 days, and the clock starts at the completion of the assessment.
What each document must show
Section 11 lists the contents, and both kinds of document must also comply with the AQF Qualifications Issuance Policy. Both lists are printed complete.
A VET qualification, s 11(1)
- the name, registration code and logo of the RTO
- the code and title of the AQF qualification
- the NRT logo, as its conditions of use require
- the signature of a person the RTO has authorised to sign
- the RTO’s seal, corporate identifier or unique watermark
- “The qualification is recognised within the Australian Qualifications Framework”, or an AQF logo the AQF logo policy authorises
- any industry descriptor listed on the National Register for the training product
- any occupational or functional stream, in brackets after the code and title
- for an Australian apprenticeship: “Achieved through Australian Apprenticeship arrangements”
- for any part delivered in another language: “these units of competency/modules have been delivered and assessed in [insert relevant language]”, with the list of those units or modules
A VET statement of attainment, s 11(2)
- the name, registration code and logo of the RTO
- the full title and national code, as on the National Register, of each unit of competency, or each module where no units exist
- the NRT logo, as its conditions of use require
- the signature of a person the RTO has authorised to sign
- the RTO’s seal, corporate identifier or unique watermark
- “A VET statement of attainment is issued by an NVR registered training organisation when an individual has completed one or more accredited units or modules”
- where the units form part of a course or qualification: “These competencies form part of [code and full title of the relevant VET course or qualification]”
- where they were attained in completing a VET course: “These competencies were attained in completion of [VET course code] course in [full title of the VET course]”
- for any unit or module delivered in another language: the same language statement and list
The NRT logo, the Nationally Recognised Training logo, “must be depicted on all AQF certification documentation issued by an NVR registered training organisation” and “must not be depicted on other testamurs or transcripts of results” (Schedule 2, clause 4).
The student identifier stays off the page
Section 12 says an RTO must not include any individual’s student identifier on a VET qualification or statement of attainment, and must ask the Registrar to verify that an identifier belongs to the person before using it for any purpose. It must not issue either document to a student who has not been assigned a student identifier, subject to exemptions the Minister may specify; where an exemption applies, the student is told before enrolment is completed or training starts, whichever is first, that the results will not be accessible through the Commonwealth and will not appear on an authenticated VET transcript. That “must not issue” rule and the Minister’s exemptions apply in this instrument only to RTOs that are not constitutional corporations; the instrument’s note says similar requirements for constitutional corporations are in section 53 of the Student Identifiers Act 2014.
Thirty years of records
Section 10 requires an RTO to:
- keep a register, under the AQF Qualifications Register Policy, of the qualifications it is authorised to issue and of the qualifications and statements of attainment it has issued;
- keep records of all AQF certification documentation issued “for a period of thirty years”;
- keep every assessment a student submitted, to the RTO or to a third party, “for a period of 2 years after the student has completed the training product”;
- make sure students, including former students, can get copies of their documentation; and
- report, when the Regulator asks, every qualification and statement of attainment issued in the period it names.
ASQA’s integrity practice guide puts a known risk plainly: “Disposing of assessment evidence before two (2) years has elapsed since the student completed the training product.”
Third parties may not issue
A third party delivering services for an RTO must be prohibited by their written agreement from “issuing any AQF certification documentation”, and from using the NRT logo or the RTO’s branding; file 04 sets out the agreement. These rules took effect with the instrument on 1 July 2025, when its Schedule 3 repealed the 2015 Standards, as file 02 explains.