How long the State has to respond to a procedure in Peru, and how to appeal: reconsideration vs. appeal

How long the State has to resolve your procedure

The general rule sits in Article 142 of the TUO of Ley 27444: the period between the start of an evaluación previa administrative procedure and the resolution that closes it cannot exceed thirty business days, unless a law sets a longer deadline for that specific procedure. It’s a maximum, not a target: Article 131 makes clear that deadlines bind the entity and the applicant equally, “sin necesidad de apremio” (without needing to be pressed).

That general thirty-day deadline coexists with shorter deadlines for specific steps inside the file, set by Article 132 when no other law applies: receiving and routing a filing, the same day; purely procedural acts, three days; opinions, expert reports and similar reports, seven days (extendable to ten if a trip outside headquarters is needed); and acts the authority asks of you, like providing information, ten days.

When the clock starts

The count for a deadline expressed in days starts on the business day after notification or publication of the act (art. 133.1). Days are counted as consecutive business days, excluding days the service doesn’t operate and national or regional holidays, and if the last day of the deadline falls on a non-business day, it’s automatically extended to the next business day (art. 134). If you live outside the location of the competent receiving unit, a distance allowance (término de la distancia) is added on top (art. 135), following the schedule each entity approves or, failing that, the one the Judiciary uses.

If the entity is late, is the act it eventually issues still valid?

Yes. Article 140, numeral 140.3, is explicit: missing the deadline for the Administration to complete an act doesn’t excuse it from that obligation, and an act issued after the deadline is not affected by nullity, unless a law expressly says so because of that specific deadline’s non-extendable nature. What can happen when the entity is late, in an evaluación previa procedure, is that administrative silence kicks in for or against you, depending on the subject matter — the page on positive or negative administrative silence explains that in detail.

Missing deadlines without justification also has consequences for the responsible official: it triggers disciplinary liability, without prejudice to civil liability for any damages caused, and if the pattern is repeated or systematic, it also reaches the official’s superior, jointly and severally, for failing to supervise (art. 143).

How to challenge a decision: administrative remedies

If you’re notified of a resolution you believe violates, disregards, or harms a right or legitimate interest, you can challenge it through an administrative remedy (recurso administrativo). Article 206 clarifies which acts can be challenged: final acts that close the procedure, and also purely procedural acts, but only when they make it impossible to continue the procedure or leave you defenseless.

Article 207 establishes that Peru has, in principle, two remedies:

• Reconsideration (recurso de reconsideración).
• Appeal (recurso de apelación).

A third remedy, review (recurso de revisión), only applies when a law or legislative decree expressly establishes it for a specific case — the general review rule that used to sit in Article 210 was repealed.

Reconsideration vs. appeal: the difference that matters

In practice, the question that decides which one to use is simple: if you have something new to show and want to give the same authority the chance to correct itself, use reconsideration. If what you’re disputing is how they interpreted the evidence they already had, or a purely legal point, and you’d rather a different level review it, use appeal directly — you don’t need to go through reconsideration first.

The remedy’s exact deadlines

Article 207, numeral 207.2 (as amended by Decreto Legislativo 1633), sets precise deadlines:

• To file either remedy: fifteen business days, a non-extendable (perentorio) deadline.
• For the entity to resolve an appeal: thirty business days.
• For the entity to resolve a reconsideration: fifteen business days.
• Exception: in single-instance procedures handled by the consejo directivo of a regulatory agency, a reconsideration is resolved within thirty days.

The text reads: «El término para la interposición de los recursos es de quince (15) días perentorios, y deben resolverse en el plazo de treinta (30) días, con excepción del recurso de reconsideración que se resuelve en el plazo de quince (15) días».

What happens if you let the filing deadline pass

Article 212 is blunt: once the fifteen-day deadline passes without you filing your remedy, you lose the right to file it and the act becomes final. You can no longer challenge it through this route, regardless of whether you were right on the merits. That’s why it’s worth knowing the exact date of your notification from day one — the page on valid notification of an administrative act explains when a notification is considered effective and when this deadline starts running.

Two more practical rules protect you when filing:

• It doesn’t matter if you mislabel the remedy. Article 213 says a mistake in how the remedy is characterized is not an obstacle to processing it, as long as its true nature can be inferred from what you wrote.
• Each remedy can only be used once, never both together. Article 214 expressly forbids it: remedies are exercised once per procedure and never simultaneously.

Filing a remedy doesn’t freeze the decision — with exceptions

A common misconception: many people assume that appealing automatically stops whatever the entity already decided. It doesn’t. Article 216, numeral 216.1, sets the opposite rule: filing a remedy does not suspend enforcement of the challenged act, unless a law says otherwise.

There is a way out: the authority can suspend enforcement, on its own initiative or at your request, when either of these two situations applies, weighing the public or third-party interest against the harm enforcement would cause you:

• Enforcement could cause harm that would be impossible or very difficult to repair.
• There’s an objectively appreciable material nullity defect.

If you need to prevent enforcement while your remedy is being resolved, ask for it expressly and explain which of these two grounds applies to your case — don’t assume that filing a remedy alone protects you.

Summary: the two clocks to watch

1. The entity’s clock, while it processes your application: up to thirty business days to resolve it, unless a different law applies (art. 142). If it runs out, check whether administrative silence favors you.
2. Your own clock, once you’re notified of a decision you disagree with: fifteen business days to file a reconsideration or appeal (art. 207.2). Miss it and the act becomes final (art. 212), and you lose the chance to challenge it through this route.

Neither deadline pauses on its own while you wait — it’s worth tracking both yourself from the day you file or the day you’re notified, rather than counting on the entity to warn you before they expire.