Positive or negative administrative silence in Peru: which procedures fall under each

The general rule: most procedures carry positive silence

Most evaluación previa procedures in Peru carry positive administrative silence: if the agency does not notify you of a decision within the deadline, your request is deemed approved. Article 33 of the TUO of Law 27444 states this as the rule, not the exception: every procedure filed at a party’s request that is not on the taxative list for negative silence (article 34) carries positive silence.

This also covers a less obvious case: if you filed an appeal challenging a denial that resulted from negative silence, that appeal itself also carries positive silence.

The exceptions: when negative silence applies

Negative silence is the exception, and it only applies when a request could significantly affect the public interest in one of these areas, under article 34:

• Health, the environment and natural resources.
• Public safety.
• The financial and insurance system, and the securities market.
• Trade defense and national defense.
• The nation’s cultural heritage.
• Private investment promotion procedures.
• Trilateral procedures (where two parties have opposing interests).
• Registry (SUNARP-type) filing procedures.
• Procedures that create an obligation for the State to give or do something.
• Authorizations to operate casinos and slot machines.

The rule that creates or amends the procedure must technically and legally justify why it is classified as negative silence, spelling out the effect on the public interest. And no one can expand this list on their own: only a Supreme Decree countersigned by the President of the Council of Ministers can add new matters to it.

How to prove your procedure was approved

If your procedure carries positive silence, the approval kicks in automatically: article 33-A expressly says no ruling or document from the agency is required for you to exercise your right. In practice, though, it helps to have something on hand when you need to use that approval with a third party (a bank, another agency, a notary):

• Your filing receipt, with the official stamp, filing number, date, time, and the signature of whoever received it, is sufficient proof (art. 33.2).
• If you need something more formal, you can file a sworn statement (Declaración Jurada) with the same agency that let the deadline pass. The filing receipt for that sworn statement is, by itself, “sufficient proof of the deemed approving decision” (art. 33-B). If the agency refuses to accept it, you can send it through a notary instead.
• The same rule, with the same effects, applies to automatic-approval procedures.

Two limits are worth noting: the agency keeps its power of after-the-fact review over what you declared (arts. 32 and 33-A.2), and if it finds fraud or falsehood it can declare the act based on that statement void, on top of a fine of between 5 and 10 UIT (art. 32.3).

What to do if your procedure carries negative silence

If the deadline passed and your procedure is one of the ones subject to negative silence, that does not mean you lost the case. Article 33, numeral 33.1, treats the lack of a response as a denial you can challenge right away with the corresponding reconsideration or appeal, without having to keep waiting for an explicit answer. That appeal, in turn, does carry positive silence.

If your procedure was denied in writing, or it is not clear how to appeal, see a government office refused my procedure: what can I do, which covers deadlines and options, including administrative appeals, the Libro de Reclamaciones, and filing a complaint with Indecopi.

Taxes, customs, and other special cases

For tax and customs matters, administrative silence is not governed by these articles but by the Tax Code and its special rules (art. 34.3). The same can happen with other special procedures that have their own law: article II of the TUO’s preliminary title says laws creating special procedures cannot impose less favorable conditions than this law, but they can still set their own silence rules if a rule with the force of law says so.

How long you have to wait

The general maximum deadline, from the start of the evaluación previa procedure until the agency must decide, is thirty business days (art. 35). A law or legislative decree can set a different deadline, longer or shorter, for a specific procedure, and your agency’s TUPA usually shows the exact deadline for your procedure.

For positive silence there is a detail people miss: the deadline does not end on the procedure’s last day. Article 188.1 says the request is approved if, «transcurrido el plazo establecido o máximo, al que se adicionará el plazo máximo señalado en el numeral 24.1 del artículo 24 de la presente Ley, la entidad no hubiere notificado el pronunciamiento respectivo» — that is, once the deadline passes, plus the maximum notification period in article 24.1, without the agency notifying a decision. Article 24.1 gives the agency five days to notify. With the general deadline, that means thirty business days plus five. Days are business days: no Saturdays, Sundays or public holidays (art. 134.1). If you file the sworn statement before those five days pass, the approval has not taken effect yet.

Positive vs. negative, at a glance

This TUO renumbered several articles

Other pages on this site, verified before July 2026, cite the previous TUO (S.D. 004-2019-JUS). The new TUO (S.D. 006-2026-JUS) reordered several articles: for example, the TUPA-legality rule that used to be article 40 is now, in substance, article 36. If you are going to cite an article of Law 27444 in a filing, confirm its current number first in SPIJ or in this same TUO.

Check your case

The Positive or negative administrative silence? tool tells you which rule applies to your procedure, what the deadline is and what to do, and says so when the answer depends on your agency’s TUPA.