Peru seeks broad 120-day delegated legislative powers. Key implications for investors and businesses.

BY LUIS VARGAS
AND SERGIO BARBOZA

The Peruvian Executive Branch has submitted a bill (Legislative Proposal No. 00098/2026-2031-CD) seeking 120 days of delegated legislative authority to enact decrees across eight policy areas, covering 66 specific measures. The proposal would empower the government to implement a broad range of regulatory reforms affecting sectors such as financial services, mining, energy, infrastructure, compliance, customs, and labor.

Notably, the initiative expands upon the priorities outlined in President Keiko Fujimori’s July 28, 2026 inaugural address and omits the anticipated public procurement reform previously identified as a key government objective.

If approved by Congress, the delegation would allow the Executive Branch to enact substantial regulatory changes within a compressed timeframe and without undergoing the ordinary legislative process. Companies operating in Peru are encouraged to closely monitor developments.

Financial services: Potential elimination of interest rate caps

The bill proposes repealing the statutory interest rate caps introduced by Law No. 31143. The proposal also contemplates measures to advance open finance initiatives, support the introduction of new banking and insurance products, allow minors between the ages of 12 and 18 to open savings accounts, and authorize financial institutions to access national identity records maintained by the National Registry of Identification and Civil Status (Registro Nacional de Identificación y Estado Civil or RENIEC).

If the bill is enacted, banks and other financial institutions may be required to revise their pricing structures, customer disclosures, contractual documentation, and compliance procedures on an accelerated timeline.

Mining, energy, and environmental permitting

The bill proposes sweeping reforms aimed at increasing legal certainty and encouraging private investment in the extractive industries.

The Executive Branch seeks authority to modify rules governing the granting, duration, and forfeiture of mining concessions and to streamline formalization and administrative procedures. Existing concession holders are encouraged to monitor changes affecting concession maintenance and forfeiture requirements.

Proposals also include measures to develop energy resources with optimized exploration and production contracts, increase the use of renewable energy and distributed generation, and support emerging technologies like green hydrogen.

Further, the bill proposes to accelerate environmental permitting processes by adopting approval mechanisms that reflect the risk profile of regulated activities and by modernizing the environmental certification framework.

Public–private partnerships and infrastructure

The bill seeks to allow private investors to undertake activities traditionally performed by the public sector, including technical studies, land acquisition, and clearance of project interferences. Additional measures would allow public entities to delegate certain contract administration functions and would modify the governance structure of ProInversión, Peru’s investment promotion agency.

The proposal also outlines reforms related to expropriation procedures, property valuations, and protections for funds earmarked for land acquisition.

Compliance, AML, and supply chain risks

The bill’s compliance implications extend beyond traditional criminal law reforms. Notably, the government seeks authority to establish a legal framework allowing certain criminal organizations to be formally designated as terrorist entities. Such designations could affect risk assessments, due diligence procedures, sanctions screening, and anti-money laundering (AML) controls, particularly in sectors exposed to informal or illicit economies.

Another proposal would prohibit the importation of goods produced wholly or partially through forced labor. Multinational companies already subject to supply chain due diligence obligations in the United States and European Union are encouraged to evaluate how potential Peruvian requirements may interact with existing compliance frameworks and sourcing practices.

Tax and customs measures

If the bill is enacted, the Executive Branch would be granted authority to simplify tax regimes, refine corporate compliance obligations, and update customs procedures and digital platforms, with the objective of reducing costs and administrative burdens. The bill does not propose amendments to corporate income taxation or international tax rules.

The proposal also includes measures related to intellectual property enforcement and expansion of Peru’s Works for Taxes framework to support infrastructure projects focused on disaster prevention and climate resilience.

Labor and employment

The bill’s labor chapter focuses on workforce formalization, youth employment initiatives, modernization of labor inspections, productivity bonus structures, and clarification of severance rules applicable to management and employees in positions of trust.

Notably, the proposal does not address the previously announced plan to increase the monthly minimum wage to PEN1,300.

Next steps

Peru’s executive is struggling to secure the delegated legislative powers it requested.

It has stalled in the Chamber of Deputies’ Constitution Committee, whose draft report recommends rejection and shelving and which adjourned on 30 September without voting. Three substitute texts circulating in the committee would narrow any delegation to citizen security and El Niño preparedness, or to four areas including economic reactivation and State modernization.

For companies, the measures in the balance are substantive: repeal of the interest rate caps introduced by Law No. 31143; an update to the rules governing the grant, term and forfeiture of mining concessions; changes to the electricity concessions framework; a reallocation to private sponsors of land acquisition and interference clearance in public-private partnerships; and shorter environmental permitting timelines. The Energy and Mines Committee has already found the sector delegation unviable, objecting among other things that the hydrocarbons request did not specify whether it covered oil, natural gas or both.

Luis Vargas is Co-Managing Partner of DLA Piper’s Peru ofice and US-LatAm Practice Group Regional Co-Leader, Corporate M&A / Private Equity.

Sergio Barboza is Co-Managing Partner of DLA Piper’s Peru ofice and US-LatAm Practice Group Regional Co-Leader, Fintech.

This alert was originally published by DLA Piper. Republished — with an update — with permission from DLA Piper.

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