Response Timeline

Initial Response
10 days
Extension
5 days
Residency Required
None

10 business days. May be extended once for 5 additional business days if justified by lack of capacity or voluminous request. Extension must be communicated by the second business day after submission.

How to Submit a Request

Accepted Methods

  • In person — At the entity's mesa de partes (document reception unit)
  • Online form — Via mesa de partes digital (available 24/7)
  • Email — Via email if the entity accepts electronic submissions
  • Mail — Written request on plain paper, no specific form required

Any person has the right to request public information without expressing a cause (Article 8). Optional standard forms are provided but not required.

Required Elements

  • Full name (nombres y apellidos)
  • Identification document number (DNI or equivalent)
  • Address (domicilio)

Optional Elements

  • Email address for electronic notifications
  • Description of specific department that may possess the information

Fees

Article 13: access to information is free (gratuito), with requesters paying only direct costs of reproduction. Constitutional Court ruled entities may only charge "real cost." All fees must be published in the agency TUPA.

Exemptions

  • Secret Information
    Information classified as secret for national security, intelligence/counter-intelligence, military defense
  • Strictly Secret Information
    Highest classification requiring Council of Ministers majority approval; military logistics and special operations
  • Reserved Information
    Information where declassification would endanger territorial integrity; police and intelligence operations for terrorism/drug trafficking
  • Pre-Decisional Advice
    Advice, recommendations, or opinions in deliberative process before government decision-making
  • Commercial Secrets
    Banking, tax, commercial, industrial, technological, and stock-exchange secrecy
  • Legal Strategy
    Legal advisors' information revealing strategy for administrative or judicial proceedings
  • Ongoing Investigations
    Information linked to ongoing sanctioning investigations; exclusion ends with resolution or after 6 months
  • Personal Privacy
    Information affecting personal privacy and confidentiality

Three-tier classification: Secret, Reserved, Confidential. Article 15C prohibits creating exemptions via lower-level regulations. Article 16 requires partial disclosure. Information about human rights violations or Geneva Convention violations can NEVER be classified. Exempt information remains accessible to Congress, Judiciary, Comptroller, and Human Rights Ombudsman.

Appeal Process

1

Internal Administrative Appeal

15 business days from receiving denial, or any time if entity failed to respond.

2

Appeal to TTAIP

15 business days after internal appeal denied. TTAIP resolves within 10 business days.

3

Habeas Data Constitutional Action

After exhausting administrative remedies. Constitutional action to enforce right to information. Courts resolve within 10 business days.

Three levels: (1) internal appeal, (2) TTAIP (final administrative instance, resolves in 10 business days), (3) habeas data constitutional action in courts.

Records Retention

Retention Law
Ley N.° 25323 — Ley que crea el Sistema Nacional de Archivos

Ley N.° 25323 (10 de junio de 1991); modificada por D.Leg. N.° 1556

View retention law →