Procedures: how a student defends themselves in Spain
This guide explains, with sources, what stages the formal procedure has when a university accuses you of plagiarism or academic fraud on the strength of a detector, and where Descargo fits in each. It covers Spain and Colombia. Mexico is in procedures-mx.md, Argentina in procedures-ar.md, Chile in procedures-cl.md and Peru in procedures-pe.md; other countries will get their own guides, each with its sources.
This is not legal advice. It is public information put in order. Every fact carries its source and the date a person checked it by reading the official text. What could not be checked is marked to verify. Every university also has its own rules, which take precedence over the general ones: read yours in full before replying to anything.
What both countries share
A detector's percentage is an indication, not a sanction. To sanction you, the university has to open a procedure and let you defend yourself within it. What follows is what that right of defence consists of in each country.
Spain
Which law applies (checked 2026-11-08)
Ley 3/2022 of 24 February, on university coexistence (BOE-A-2022-2978). It sets the offences and sanctions for students of public universities (art. 7), "without prejudice to the regulations set by the Autonomous Communities". If your university is private, which part of this regime reaches you and which part is its own regulation is to verify in each case.
The 1954 academic discipline regulation no longer exists. Many texts and old university regulations still cite it. The BOE marks it as repealed "with effect from 26 February 2022, by the sole repealing provision of Ley 3/2022" (BOE-A-1954-17807). If your university cites it to you, that is worth a question.
Real Decreto 1791/2010, the University Student Statute (BOE-A-2010-20147).
Ley 39/2015, on the Common Administrative Procedure (BOE-A-2015-10565), which applies in general to the procedures of public universities.
What counts as an offence
| Severity | Conduct | Article |
|---|---|---|
| Very serious | "Plagiarising a work in whole or in part, or committing academic fraud in the Bachelor's thesis, the Master's thesis or the doctoral thesis" | 11.g |
| Serious | "Committing academic fraud", defined as in art. 11.g | 12.d |
The law defines academic fraud as "any premeditated conduct aimed at falsifying the results of an exam or of work, one's own or someone else's" (art. 11.g). The word that matters is premeditated: a similarity or AI percentage says nothing about intent. It is an argument for your statement, not a guarantee of the outcome. How your university treats plagiarism in work that is not a Bachelor's thesis, Master's thesis or doctorate is to verify in its regulation.
Sanctions and limitation periods
Very serious offence: expulsion from two months to three years, or loss of partial enrolment rights for an academic year or semester (art. 14.3).
Serious offence: expulsion of up to one month, or loss of the ordinary sitting of that subject in that semester (art. 14.4).
Offences lapse after three years (very serious), two (serious) and six months (minor) from when they are committed (art. 17.2 and 17.3).
The stages of the procedure (art. 19 and art. 18)
Opening. The Rector's office opens it and appoints an investigator. The decision must state the facts, their possible classification and the sanction that could apply to you, and tell you of your right to make submissions, the deadline, and the option of mediation (art. 19.a).
Investigation. The investigator takes your statement. You have ten days to make submissions, provide documents and propose evidence (art. 19.b).
Statement of charges. If it goes ahead, it is notified to you and you have another ten days to make submissions, provide documents and propose evidence; then there is a hearing, also of ten days (art. 19.d).
Proposed resolution. The investigator drafts it within ten days and you have ten days more to make submissions (art. 19.e).
Resolution. The sanctioning body decides within ten days, with reasons. If it means to impose something more serious than the proposal, it gives you fifteen more days to make submissions (art. 19.e). That resolution "will end the administrative route" and must state the remedies available (art. 19.h).
The law also requires the person who investigates to be separate from the one who sanctions (art. 18.b) and lets you be assisted by a person of your choice throughout the procedure (art. 18.d).
Your procedural rights
To know the state of the file and to obtain a copy of its documents (Ley 39/2015, art. 53.1.a).
To make submissions and provide documents before the hearing stage (Ley 39/2015, art. 53.1.e).
To be informed of the assessment rules and of the grade review procedure (Statute, art. 7.1.g). Assessment must follow "public and objective criteria" (art. 25.1).
To go to the University Ombudsperson (Defensor Universitario), which every university has, advises you on the procedures for making a complaint and may take on mediation, conciliation and good offices (Statute, art. 46.2 and 46.3).
If the act does not end the administrative route, the deadline for an appeal to a superior (recurso de alzada) is one month (Ley 39/2015, art. 122.1). Which remedy lies against the final resolution of a disciplinary procedure, and within what time, must be stated in the resolution itself; see a professional before it runs out.
Where Descargo fits
| Stage | What Descargo can do |
|---|---|
| Before submitting | inspect lists what the file carries besides the visible text |
| Before the accusation or during the investigation | access-request drafts the request for the detector's report and the data processed (GDPR and LOPDGDD) |
| Submissions and statement of charges | import-report and audit help read the report and recalculate the percentage without quotations, bibliography or templates |
How this was checked
The texts of Ley 3/2022, Real Decreto 1791/2010, Ley 39/2015 and the two rulings were downloaded from the official sources (the BOE and the Constitutional Court's reporter) on 2026-11-08, and the Ley 30 of 1992 on 2026-11-10: the current text from the Colombian Senate's General Secretariat and the original from the Ministry of National Education. The quotations were searched for in the text. Laws change: check this document's date and the current text in the BOE or the reporter before relying on it.