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Access to public information in Peru: deadlines, what the State can withhold, and how to appeal

Short answer

Anyone can request information from any Peruvian government entity without saying why they want it. The entity has ten (10) business days to respond; if it doesn't, the request is treated as denied (negative silence) and you can appeal to the Transparency and Access to Public Information Tribunal within fifteen (15) calendar days. The State can only withhold information classified as secret, reserved, or confidential, and you can only be charged the cost of reproduction.

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Peruvian State portal (gob.pe)

Checked 1 Oct 2026Next review 28 Dec 2026

By Gyason · verified 1 Oct 2026

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The clock running against you

15 calendar days from the day the entity formally notifies you of the denial, or the day after the 10-business-day deadline expires if you got no response at all.This is a caducidad period: once it lapses, the right itself is gone.

What day was it?

This is the deadline to appeal to the Transparency and Access to Public Information Tribunal. The entity itself has 10 business days to respond to you (art. 11 literal b), extendable only once and only if it notifies you within the first 2 business days (art. 11 literal g).

D.S. 021-2019-JUS (TUO de la Ley 27806), art. 11 literal e)

What access to public information means

Access to public information is a fundamental right, recognized in article 2, numeral 5, of the Constitution and developed by Ley N.° 27806, the Transparency and Access to Public Information Law (now consolidated in Decreto Supremo N.° 021-2019-JUS). The underlying rule is simple: all information held by the State is presumed public, and anyone can request it from any entity of the Public Administration — ministries, municipalities, regional governments, public universities, the police, the judiciary, state-owned companies, and also private companies that provide a public service or exercise administrative functions, with respect to that function.

The most important thing for a requester: you don’t have to say why you want the information. Article 7 says it expressly: no reason is ever required to exercise this right. It doesn’t matter if you’re a journalist, a researcher, a curious neighbor, or you just want to see how your municipality spent its budget.

Who to ask, and how

Every entity must have a designated access-to-information official (art. 8). Your request should go to that person; if you don’t know who it is, any office within the entity is required to route your request to the right official, or to whoever holds the information.

You can request any document, photograph, recording, or data the entity created or obtained, or that it holds or controls, in any format (art. 10). This includes information funded by the public budget that underlies an administrative decision, and the minutes of official meetings.

Beyond filing a written request, article 12 recognizes your right to direct, immediate access during public business hours, without going through the full procedure, for information that’s already available.

How long the entity has to respond

The general deadline is ten (10) business days from when you file your request (art. 11 literal b). This deadline is different — and shorter — than the general 30-business-day deadline that governs most other administrative procedures under Ley 27444, precisely because access to information has its own special law.

The entity can extend this deadline only once, and only for a justified reason tied to a proven lack of logistical, operational, or human-resources capacity, or to the significant volume of information requested. To do so validly, it must notify you, with a stated justification, within the first 2 business days of receiving your request, giving you a specific date by which it will deliver the information (art. 11 literal g). If the entity doesn’t even meet that 2-day notice deadline, you can go directly to the Autoridad Nacional de Transparencia y Acceso a la Información Pública (ANTAIP) — the body that now oversees compliance with this law and reports annually to Congress on requests handled and unhandled.

If you get no response: silence counts as a denial

If the 10-business-day deadline (or the exceptional extension) expires with no response, article 11 literal d) is clear: you may treat your request as denied. Unlike many other administrative procedures in Peru, where silence usually works in the citizen’s favor (positive silence), access-to-information requests work the opposite way: silence is a tacit denial — it doesn’t give you what you asked for, but it does immediately open the door to appeal.

How to appeal: the Transparency and Access to Public Information Tribunal

Whether you were expressly denied or simply never got a response, you have 15 calendar days to file an appeal with the Transparency and Access to Public Information Tribunal (art. 11 literal e). You can file it directly with the Tribunal or with the same entity that denied your request, which is then required to forward it.

The Tribunal, in turn, has a maximum of 10 business days, “under liability” (bajo responsabilidad), to resolve your appeal. If it also misses that deadline, article 11 literal f) lets you treat administrative remedies as exhausted — meaning you no longer have to wait for an answer within the State itself — and go to the courts through a constitutional hábeas data proceeding, the judicial remedy specifically designed to enforce this right.

What information the State can withhold (and what it can’t)

The law allows denial only under three exception categories, all in articles 15 through 17, and article 18 requires them to be read narrowly, since they limit a fundamental right. No lower-ranking rule — a regulation, an internal directive — can create a new exception.

Category	What it protects	Examples
Secret (art. 15)	National security in its strictest sense	Military defense plans, intelligence and counterintelligence operations
Reserved (art. 16)	Internal security and foreign relations	Police plans against terrorism or drug trafficking, ongoing international negotiations
Confidential (art. 17)	Specific interests the law expressly protects	Opinions preceding a government decision (until the decision is made), banking/tax/commercial secrets, ongoing sanctioning investigations (up to 6 months or until the proceeding ends), the entity’s own legal strategy, personal data touching on privacy (including health information)

For most citizens, the exception that comes up most in practice is the confidential category — especially banking and commercial secrecy, and third parties’ personal data. Outside those three narrow categories, everything the State holds is presumed public.

Two more protections worth knowing:

Partial information (art. 19): if a document mixes protected and public information, the entity must give you the accessible part, redacting only what’s protected. It can’t withhold the whole document just because part of it is protected.
A denial must be justified (art. 13): the entity can’t deny you information based on your identity, and it must state expressly which of articles 15 through 17 it’s relying on, and for how long the restriction will last. An ambiguous response, or one that doesn’t meet these requirements, is legally treated as a denial.

How much you can be charged

Only the cost of reproduction: photocopies, a CD, a printout. That amount must be set out in the entity’s TUPA (art. 20). Any additional charge — a “processing fee,” a “search fee” unconnected to reproduction — counts as an illegal restriction on your right, punishable under article 4.

What happens to an official who denies you without a valid reason

An official who arbitrarily obstructs your access, gives you incomplete information, or otherwise fails to comply with this law commits a serious offense (falta grave), and can also be criminally reported for the crime of abuse of authority (article 377 of the Criminal Code), under article 4. The same article protects the official who does comply: no one can retaliate against them for handing over the information.

If your issue is really a different procedure that was denied and you’re not sure how to challenge it, see what to do if a government procedure was denied and the general reconsideration and appeal deadlines under Ley 27444, which are different from this law’s own special deadlines.

Check your case

The Public information requests: deadlines tool tells you how long the entity has to answer, what happens if it does not answer or refuses, and until when you can appeal to the Transparency Tribunal.

How long it takes

You
You file your request with the entity's access-to-information official
The response deadline starts running
Source: Decreto Supremo N.° 021-2019-JUS, Artículo 8 (TUO de la Ley N.° 27806)
The entity
The entity must hand over the information or deny it with a stated legal basis
Up to 10 business days (exceptionally extendable once, with notice within the first 2 business days)
Source: Decreto Supremo N.° 021-2019-JUS, Artículo 11, literal b) (TUO de la Ley N.° 27806)
Automatic
If you get no response, your request is treated as denied
Once the 10 business days expire
Source: Decreto Supremo N.° 021-2019-JUS, Artículo 11, literal d) (TUO de la Ley N.° 27806)
You
You file your appeal with the Transparency Tribunal
Up to 15 calendar days from the denial or the deadline's expiration
Source: Decreto Supremo N.° 021-2019-JUS, Artículo 11, literal e) (TUO de la Ley N.° 27806)
The Transparency and Access to Public Information Tribunal
The Tribunal resolves your appeal
Up to 10 business days, under liability
Source: Decreto Supremo N.° 021-2019-JUS, Artículo 11, literal e) (TUO de la Ley N.° 27806)

These periods are counted differently, so we don't add them up.

If the Tribunal doesn't resolve within that deadline, you can treat administrative remedies as exhausted (art. 11 literal f) and go to the courts through a constitutional hábeas data proceeding.

How to file

Identify the entity's access-to-information officialCheck the entity's transparency portal or its TUPA. If you can't find the name, any office within the entity is required to route your request to the right person.
File your request in writing, with no need to justify the reasonDescribe precisely what information you're asking for. You don't have to explain why you want it or show any special interest.
Count the 10 business days and keep your filing receiptThe dated, stamped receipt is your proof of when the deadline started running, and of having filed the request at all if you later need to appeal.
If denied or ignored, appeal to the Tribunal within 15 calendar daysFile your appeal with the same entity, which must forward it to the Transparency and Access to Public Information Tribunal, or file it directly with the Tribunal.
If the Tribunal also misses its deadline, consider a hábeas data proceedingWith administrative remedies exhausted, you can go to the courts through a constitutional hábeas data proceeding asking a judge to order the information's release.

What people fail to ask in time

Did you know you can complain to the Defensoría del Pueblo if an entity is obstructing your access while your request is still pending?

Find out before it matters →

What most people believe — and what the law says

The belief

I have to explain why I want the information, or the request goes faster if I give a good reason.

The law

Article 7 expressly says no reason is ever required ("en ningún caso se exige expresión de causa"). You don't have to justify your request or state any motive.

The belief

If they don't respond, I've already lost.

The law

Silence is treated as a denial (art. 11 literal d), but that's exactly what opens the door to appeal to the Transparency Tribunal within the following 15 calendar days (art. 11 literal e). It's not a dead end — it's the trigger for your appeal.

The belief

The State can withhold any information it wants by just calling it "reserved" or "confidential".

The law

The only valid exceptions are those in articles 15, 16 and 17, and article 18 requires them to be read narrowly. An entity cannot invent a category of secrecy that isn't in the law.

The belief

I have to pay whatever fee the entity asks for.

The law

Article 20 says you can only be charged the cost of reproduction (photocopies, a CD, etc.), and that amount must appear in the entity's TUPA. Any additional charge is illegal.

Frequently asked questions

Who do I send the request to — can I write to any official?

Your request must go to the access-to-information official each entity is required to designate (art. 8). If you don't know who that is, any office within the entity is required to route your request to the right person (art. 11 literal a).

How long does the entity have to give me the information?

Ten (10) business days from when you file your request (art. 11 literal b). Only for justified reasons of logistical capacity or the volume of information can the entity extend that deadline once, notifying you within the first 2 business days with a specific new date (art. 11 literal g).

What information can the State withhold?

Only information classified as secret (national security, art. 15), reserved (internal security, art. 16), or confidential (pre-decision deliberations, banking/commercial secrets, ongoing sanctioning investigations, the entity's own legal strategy, personal data touching on privacy, art. 17). Outside those three narrow categories, everything the State holds is presumed public.

How much can the entity charge me?

Only the cost of reproducing the information (copies, a CD, etc.), set in the entity's TUPA. They cannot charge you an additional fee for the procedure itself (art. 20).

What do I do if I'm denied or get no response?

You have 15 calendar days to file an appeal with the Transparency and Access to Public Information Tribunal, which must resolve it within a maximum of 10 business days (art. 11 literals e and f). If the Tribunal also misses that deadline, you can treat administrative remedies as exhausted and go to the courts through a constitutional hábeas data proceeding.

Can I just show up and ask in person instead of filing a written request?

Yes. Article 12 recognizes a right to direct, immediate access during public business hours, without prejudice to your right to also file a formal request.