Regulatory Policy in Peru 2026

This chapter describes the administrative and legal context for regulatory reform in Peru and evaluates the government’s commitment to strengthen regulatory policy. It provides an overview of the regulatory oversight functions in the Peruvian administration and offers a description of the capacities available to foster a whole-of-government regulatory policy in the country.

Over the past eight years, Peru has developed a policy and regulatory framework to support the better regulation agenda in the country. In 2016, the Legislative Decree 1310 introduced the first systematic measures on administrative simplification, including the Regulatory Quality Analysis (análisis de calidad regulatoria, ACR), a tool aimed at simplifying and eliminating formalities (trámites) (OECD, 2019[1]). The establishment of regulatory policy as one of the key elements in the State’s Modernisation Framework, granted the PCM the possibility of defining guidelines and instruments that supported the implementation of regulatory management tools such as RIA and stakeholder engagement activities. Table 3.1 lists the main developments in regulatory policy for the period 2016-2023. During these years, the policy framework focused on the strengthening of administrative simplification initiatives and on the development of material to support the implementation of RIA.

The General Law to Improve Regulatory Quality (the General Law), published on 28 of May 2023 and in effect since, integrates, consolidates, and further develops the regulatory framework for better regulation in Peru. The emission of the General Law is a positive step and helps underscore the importance of the regulatory reform in the country. However, its implementation is still at early stages as line ministries and other entities are adapting gradually to the systemic use of regulatory policy tools, particularly RIA and stakeholder engagement activities.

Embedding the systematic use of better regulation tools and practices across the administration calls for a change of culture for different stakeholders, both internal and external to the administration. There has been strong political support from the highest level for a regulatory quality agenda in the country. Nonetheless, evidence collected during the fact-finding mission show that practitioners struggle to see the value added of embedding regulatory management tools in their rule-making activities.

The General Law defines the institutional and governance arrangements, regulatory management tools and practices that underpin the better regulation policy in the country. It applies to all entities of the national Executive Branch that can emit general regulations and encourages other government entities exempted from the obligations of the General Law, to adopt the regulatory management tools and practices. Moreover, the General Law establishes the roles and responsibilities of the relevant actors in the regulatory policy ecosystem. It lays down the functions of CMCR and of line ministries and relevant institutions.

Among the tools covered by the General Law are forward planning, RIA, ex post evaluations, review of the regulatory stock, stakeholder engagement, and the use of innovative solutions to tackle public policy problems. While it does not cover all key elements of the regulatory policy cycle, such as regulatory enforcement or multi-level governance, it does lay the foundations for a whole-of-government approach to better regulation.

Currently, Peru is developing the Bylaw of the General Law. This document will provide the details for the roll-out and implementation of RIA, stakeholder engagement practices, and ex post evaluation of regulations, cost-effective innovations, among others across the administration. The Bylaw will bring together the different subordinate regulations in place (i.e. RIA Bylaw) and will provide clarity on the implementation of other practices. The development of the Bylaw following good regulatory practices and building on the lessons learned across the Peruvian administration will be crucial to foster buy-in from the different stakeholders and ensure the effective implementation of the different regulatory policy tools and of the General Law as a whole.

As is the case in several OECD Member countries, Peru’s institutional landscape for regulatory policy consists of several key actors. Table 3.2 summarises the role and activities that key institutions perform in the Peruvian regulatory policy system. The co-ordination arrangements between the different actors are laid in the General Law to Improve Regulatory Quality.

PCM is the head of the CMCR. The PCM, through the SGP, is the governing body of the regulatory policy system in Peru. With the support of the SSAR, it is responsible for the design, elaboration, definition, and implementation of policies, plans and strategies aimed at improving regulatory quality and administrative simplification. It develops regulations that underpin the implementation of regulatory management tools and practices in the administration and provides guidelines, and capacity building activities. The SGP also oversees compliance with the dispositions in the General Law to Improve Regulatory Quality.

The MINJUSDH is responsible for guaranteeing the consistency of the legal system and ensuring that regulatory proposals comply with the legal quality standards. The MINJUSDH is part of the CMCR.

The MEF is part of the CMCR and, thus, plays a role in the evaluation of RIAs.

The CMCR is a collegiate body that brings together high-level officials from the PCM, MEF, and MINJUSDH. It is composed by Secretary of Public Administration, the Director of Legislative Efficiency for the Productivity and Competition of the MEF, and the Director of Legislative Development and Regulatory Quality of the MINJUSDH. The SSAR is the Technical Secretariat of the CMCR, and it collaborates with the technical teams of the MEF and MINJUSDH to assess the quality of the regulatory management tools covered in the General Law. Moreover, the CMCR engages with line ministries and institutions through a designated focal point (better regulation official, oficial de mejora regulatoria), who is responsible for the co-ordination, articulation, and organisation of the application of the regulatory policy tools and practices.

The General Law foresees the creation of the Consultive Commission for the Improvement of Regulatory Quality Ex Post (Comisión Consultiva para la Mejora de la Calidad Regulatoria Ex Post). It is expected to gather representatives of the private sector, academia, and civil society with the objective of helping identify regulations that are not fulfilling their intended objectives, that are obsolete, or that generate excessive administrative burdens. The Commission has yet to be assembled.

The INDECOPI, through the Commission for the Elimination of Bureaucratic Barriers, supports administrative simplification actions by the elimination of existing requirements, prohibitions, or fees that generate illegal or unreasonable bureaucratic barriers. These barriers refer to regulatory requirements or regulations that can hinder the access or permanency of economic agents in the market. In some cases, excessive administrative burdens can be considered as bureaucratic barriers.

The MINCETUR develops and co-ordinates the implementation of technical regulations in the country. It works as the contact point with the Andean Community (CAN) and the World Trade Organisation.

Regulatory oversight functions are split across several institutions in Peru. While the SGP performs most of the functions that the OECD has identified as key for regulatory oversight bodies, the quality control of impact assessments is a shared responsibility (OECD, 2012[2]). The General Law defines the functioning of the regulatory oversight system. The forthcoming Bylaw of the General Law is expected to define the co-ordination and operation mechanisms across institutions, particularly for the CMCR. Table 3.3 maps the key regulatory oversight functions and the institution or area responsible for it in Peru.

The SGP and the SSAR, placed at the Centre of Government (CoG), lead the promotion and co-ordination of regulatory policy in Peru. Most efforts to strengthen the country’s regulatory ecosystem have focused on the national administration, following a gradual approach to the adoption of regulatory management tools. The SGP and SSAR play a central role in the publication of guidelines and manuals, as well as in the provision of training for a wide range of actors in the administration. Moreover, the SGP supports sub-national governments in the adoption and implementation of good regulatory practices, mainly focusing on administrative simplification measures. Furthermore, the SGP is required to report on the implementation of the country’s regulatory policy four years from the introduction of the General Law (i.e. in 2027) and to propose recommendations for the future. So far, there has been limited communication of the benefits from adopting better regulation practices more systematically.

On the other hand, quality control of regulatory management tools is a responsibility of the CMCR. The introduction of a collegiate body that scrutinises RIAs was a recommendation of the OECD and was conceived as a transitory measure (OECD, 2016[3]). Moving forward, Peru could evaluate the pertinence of allocating the quality control function to a single body. In the meantime, the Bylaw yet to be published, should help define more clearly the responsibilities across actors in the regulatory policy landscape of Peru, as well as to establish the co-ordination arrangement conducive to an effective implementation of the better regulation policy in Peru.

The SGP and other authorities acknowledge the importance of having in place adequate technical capacities as a necessary condition for the implementation of regulatory reform. The SSAR has a leading role in the provision of capacity building activities, development of guidelines and manuals aimed at strengthening the adoption of regulatory policy tools and practices by the administration. Over the past years, the publication of guidelines and courses on regulatory policy, RIA, and stakeholder engagement have been complemented by specialised workshops. At the time of preparation of this report, over 600 officials had received trainings on RIA and more than 2 900 officials had benefited from technical assistance to strengthen regulatory quality.

Although Peru has devoted significant resources to the development of capacities for regulatory policy in the administration, the high level of turnover in ministries and other institutions hamper impact. This is a challenge for both line ministries who must implement regulatory management tools such as RIA, but also for entities that supervise the regulatory system. In the case of the former, constant staff changes translate into little buy-in for regulatory policy tools, limited technical capacities, and loss of relevant experience.

A significant number of staff in the SSAR were hired with time-bound external funding linked to specific projects, leading to uncertainty and constant rotation in the team performing key functions such as quality control of RIAs and the deployment of regulatory policy tools across government. This issue was identified by a wide range of stakeholders during interviews as an important obstacle to effective reform and will need to be addressed to ensure that the SSAR can deliver on its mandate. This need will become more acute with the expected rise in workload once RIA and other tools are implemented more systematically.

Ensuring adequate technical capacities will need to be accompanied by a change culture across the administration regarding the use of regulatory management tools. Currently, they tend to be viewed as an additional administrative burden as opposed to an avenue to strengthen public outcomes and the performance of the administration, evidenced by the low number of implemented RIAs. Leveraging the experience of other entities that introduced regulatory policy tools before, such as the economic regulators (please refer to Chapter 6 for more details), could help build acceptance throughout the administration.

One of the recommendations on institutional framework and capacity for regulatory policy calls for Peru to “Complete the policy framework that underpins regulatory policy and develop a holistic view of regulatory policy, including by demonstrating progress towards:

• Publishing the Bylaw of the General Law on the Improvement of the Regulatory Quality to further cement the implementation of regulatory management tools across the administration.

• Developing policy documents that encompass measures that help adopt better regulation principles, tools, and practices in areas such as ex post assessment, regulatory enforcement and inspections, and sub-national regulatory policy”.

In response, Peru enacted the Bylaw of the General Law for the Improvement of the Regulatory Quality (the Bylaw) published in the national official gazette El Peruano on 25 February 2025. The Bylaw aims at strengthening regulatory governance, cementing the implementation of regulatory management tools and practices across the administration. It covers a wide range of tools such as RIA, ex post evaluation of regulations, administrative simplification measures, and the implementation of innovative approaches to foster better regulations. Additionally, it strengthens regulatory policy at sub-national level and further clarifies the responsibilities and mandate of the regulatory quality oversight body, the CMCR.

The Bylaw builds on Peru’s experience implementing several regulatory management tools, such as RIA, and aligns with good regulatory practices. It was developed through extensive public consultation and stakeholder engagement. This has resulted in a comprehensive and widely supported document, crucial for the successful implementation of the regulatory tools and practices it outlines.

With the above developments, Peru has shown good progress addressing this recommendation. Peru has strengthened its regulatory policy framework by adopting the Bylaw reinforcing the use of regulatory management tools across the administration. The Bylaw also enhances regulatory governance at sub-national level and expands the responsibilities of the oversight body. Developed through public consultation and aligned with good regulatory practices, the Bylaw provides a solid and widely supported foundation for advancing better regulation principles, tools, and enforcement mechanisms.

[1] OECD (2019), Implementing Regulatory Impact Analysis in the Central Government of Peru. Case Studies 2014-16, https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/governance/implementing-regulatory-impact-analysis-in-the-central-government-of-peru_9789264305786-en.

[3] OECD (2016), Regulatory Policy in Peru: Assembling the Framework for Regulatory Quality, OECD Reviews of Regulatory Reform, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264260054-en.

[2] OECD (2012), Recommendation of the Council on Regulatory Policy and Governance, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264209022-en.