TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE I
THE PERSON AND THE SOCIETY
Articles 1 – 42
CHAPTER I
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS OF THE PERSON
Articles 1 – 3
CHAPTER II
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC RIGHTS
Articles 4 – 29
CHAPTER III
POLITICAL RIGHTS AND DUTIES
Articles 30 – 38
CHAPTER IV
PUBLIC SERVICE
Articles 39 – 42
TITLE II
THE STATE AND THE NATION
Articles 43 – 57
CHAPTER I
THE STATE, THE NATION, AND THE TERRITORY
Articles 43 – 54
CHAPTER II
TREATIES
Articles 55 – 57
TITLE III
THE ECONOMIC SYSTEM
Articles 58 – 89
CHAPTER I
GENERAL PRINCIPLES
Articles 58 – 65
CHAPTER II
THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE NATIONAL RESOURCES
Articles 66 – 69
CHAPTER III
PROPERTY
Articles 70 – 73
CHAPTER IV
TAX AND BUDGET REGIME
Articles 74 – 82
CHAPTER V
CURRENCY AND BANKING
Articles 83 – 87
CHAPTER VI
THE AGRICULTURAL REGIME
AND RURAL AND NATIVE COMMUNITIES
Articles 88 – 89
TITLE IV
THE STRUCTURE OF THE STATE
Articles 90 – 199
CHAPTER I
THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH
Articles 90 – 102
CHAPTER II
THE LEGISLATIVE FUNCTION
Articles 103 – 106
CHAPTER III
LAWMAKING AND ENACTMENT
Articles 107 – 109
CHAPTER IV
THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH
Articles 110 – 118
CHAPTER V
THE CABINET
Articles 119 – 129
CHAPTER VI
RELATIONS WITH THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH
Articles 130 – 136
CHAPTER VII
STATE OF EXCEPTION
Article 137
CHAPTER VIII
THE JUDICIAL BRANCH
Articles 138 –149
CHAPTER IX
THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF THE MAGISTRACY
Articles 150 –157
CHAPTER X
THE OFFICE OF THE PROSECUTOR GENERAL
Articles 158 –160
CHAPTER XI
THE OFFICE OF THE OMBUDSMAN
Articles 161 –162
CHAPTER XII
SECURITY AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
Articles 163 –175
CHAPTER XIII
THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM
Articles 176 –187
CHAPTER XIV
DECENTRALIZATION
Articles 188 –199
TITLE V
CONSTITUTIONAL PROTECTIONS
Articles 200 –205
TITLE VI
CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM
Article 206
FINAL AND TRANSITORY PROVISIONS
SPECIAL TRANSITORY PROVISIONS
APPENDIX
DECLARATION
1993 POLITICAL CONSTITUTION OF PERU
The President of the Democratic Constituent Congress
Whereas:
As this constitutional draft has been approved by the Democratic Constituent Congress and
ratified by a referendum on the 31st of October, 1993,
The Democratic Constituent Congress
Does establish the following Political Constitution of Peru:
PREAMBLE
The Democratic Constituent Congress invoking Almighty God, obeying the mandate of the Peruvian people, and remembering the sacrifice of all the preceding generations of our land, has resolved to enact the following Constitution:
POLITICAL CONSTITUTION OF PERU
TITLE I
THE PERSON AND THE SOCIETY
CHAPTER I
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS OF THE PERSON
Article 1
The defense of the human person and respect for his dignity are the supreme purpose of the society and the State.
Article 2
Every person has the right:
1. To life, his identity, his moral, psychical, and physical integrity, and his free
development and well-being. The unborn child is a rights-bearing subject in all
cases that benefit him.
2. To equality before the law. No person shall be discriminated against on the basis of origin, race, sex, language, religion, opinion, economic status, or any other distinguishing feature.
3. To freedom of conscience and religion, in an individual or collective manner.
No person shall be persecuted on the basis of his ideas or beliefs. There is no crime of opinion. Public exercise of any faith is free, insofar as it does not constitute an offense against morals, or a disturbance of the public order.
4. To freedom of information, opinion, expression, and dissemination of thought, whether oral, written, or in images, through any medium of social communication, and without previous authorization, censorship, or impediment, under penalty of law.
Crimes committed by means of books, the press, and any other social media are defined by the Criminal Code and tried in a court of law.
Any action that suspends or closes down any organ of expression or prevents its free circulation constitutes a crime. The rights of information and opinion include those of founding means of communication.
5. To request, without statement of a cause, information he requires, and to receive it from any public entity within the legal term, at its respective cost.
Exception is hereby made of information affecting personal privacy and that
expressly excluded by the law or for reasons of national security.
Bank secrecy and the confidentiality of tax filings may be lifted by the request of a judge, the Prosecutor General, or a congressional investigative committee, in accordance with the law and provided that such information refers to a case under investigation.
6. to the assurance that information services, whether computerized or not, whether public or private, will not provide information affecting personal and family privacy.
7. To his honor and good reputation, to personal and family privacy, as well as to his own voice and image.
Every person affected by inaccurate statements or injured in any social medium has the right to demand free, immediate, and proportionate rectification, other legal liabilities notwithstanding.
8. To freedom of intellectual, artistic, technical, and scientific creation, as well as
to ownership of such creations and to any benefits derived from them. The State
promotes access to culture and encourages its development and dissemination.
9. To the inviolability of his home. No one may enter a dwelling or conduct any
investigation or search without authorization from the inhabitant or without a
warrant, except in cases of in flagrante delicto or serious threat of the
perpetration thereof. Exceptions for reasons of health or serious risk are
governed by law.
10. To the secrecy and inviolability of private communications and documents.
Communications, telecommunications, or any private correspondence may only
be opened, seized, intercepted, or tapped by the authority of a warrant issued by
a judge and with all the guarantees provided in the law. Any matter unrelated to
the circumstances under examination shall be kept secret.
Private documents obtained in violation of this provision have no legal effect.
Books, receipts, and accounting and administrative documents are subject to
inspection or audit by the relevant authority in accordance with the law. Any
action thus taken may not include removal or seizure, except by a court order.
11. To choose his place of residence, to move freely throughout the national
territory, and to leave the country and return to it, excepting restrictions for
reasons of health or due to a court order, or to the application of the Immigration
Act.
12. To peaceful assembly without arms. Meetings on any premises, whether private
or open to the public, do not require prior notification. Meetings held in squares
and public thoroughfares require advance notification by the relevant authority,
which may prohibit such meetings solely for proved reasons of safety or public
health.
13. To associate and establish foundations and other forms of not-for-profit legal organizations, without prior authorization, and in accordance with the law.
These organizations may not be dissolved by administrative resolution.
14. To make contracts for lawful purposes, whenever they do not contravene laws of public order.
15. To work freely, in accordance with the law.
16. To property and inheritance.
17. To participate, individually or in association with others, in the political,
economic, social, and cultural life of the Nation. Citizens, in accordance with
the law, have the right to elect, remove or revoke public authorities, and to
legislative initiative, and referendum.
18. To keep his political, philosophical, religious, or any other type of conviction private, as well as to keep professional secrets.
19. To his ethnic and cultural identity. The State recognizes and protects the ethnic
and cultural diversity of the Nation.
Every Peruvian has the right to use his own language before any authority by means of an interpreter. Foreigners enjoy the same right when summoned by any authority.
20. To submit petitions in writing, individually or collectively, before the
competent authority, who is obliged to respond to the interested party also in
writing within the legally prescribed term, under penalty of law.
Members of the Armed Forces and the National Police may only exercise their
right to petition in an individual manner.
21. To his nationality. No one may be stripped of it. Nor may any person be
deprived of the right to obtain or renew his passport inside or outside the
territory of the Republic.
22. To peace, tranquility, enjoyment of leisure time, and rest, as well as to a
balanced and appropriate environment for the development of his life.
23. To self-defense.
24. To freedom and personal security. In consequence:
a. No one is obliged to do what the law does not command, nor prevented
from doing what the law does not prohibit.
b. No restrictions whatsoever to personal freedom shall be permitted, except
in cases provided by the law. Slavery, servitude, and traffic in human
beings are prohibited in any form.
c. There is no imprisonment for debts. This provision does not restrict court
orders in the case of contempt regarding child support obligations.
d. No one shall be prosecuted or convicted for any act or omission that, at
the time of its commission, was not previously prescribed in the law
expressly and unequivocally as a punishable violation, or did not
constitute an offense penalized by law.
e. Every person has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
f. No one may be arrested without a written warrant issued by a judge for a
cause or by police authorities in cases of in flagrante delicto. The arrested
person shall be placed at the disposal of the relevant court within twenty-
four hours or within the time required for travel.
In the cases of terrorism, espionage, and illicit drug trafficking, these
terms shall not apply.
In such cases, police authorities may make the preventive arrest of those
allegedly involved, to last no more than fifteen calendar days. They shall
notify the Office of the Prosecutor General and the judge, and the latter
may assume jurisdiction before that period of time expires.
g. No one may be held incommunicado, except where it is considered
indispensable for the resolution of a crime and in the form and for the
time provided by law. The authority is obliged by law to report, without
delay and in writing, the place where the individual under arrest is
detained.
h. No one shall be a victim of moral, psychical, or physical violence, nor be
subjected to torture or inhuman or humiliating treatment. Any individual
may immediately request a medical examination for the injured person or
someone who is unable to appeal to the authorities by himself. Statements
obtained by means of violence are null and void. Whoever employs such
violence shall be held liable.
Article 3
The enumeration of rights established in this chapter does not exclude others guaranteed by the Constitution, or others of a similar nature or those based on the dignity of the human being, nor those based on the principles of sovereignty of the people, the democratic rule of law, or the republican form of government.
CHAPTER II
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC RIGHTS
Article 4
The community and the State extend special protection to children, adolescents, mothers,
and the elderly in situation of abandonment. They also protect the family and promote
marriage, which are recognized as natural and fundamental institutions of society.
The form of marriage and the grounds for separation and dissolution are governed by law.
Article 5
The stable union between a man and a woman, free of any impediment to matrimony, who
establishes a common-law marriage, creates community property subject to a marital assets
regime, where applicable.
Article 6
The national population policy aims to spread and promote responsible parenthood. It
recognizes the right of families and individuals to decide. In this spirit, the State guarantees
suitable education and information programs and access to such means, provided they do
not harm life or health.
It is the right and duty of parents to nourish, educate, and protect their children. Children
have the duty to respect and aid their parents.
All children have the same rights and duties. Any mention of the civil status of parents or of
the nature of their relationship to the children in civil records or any other identification
document is prohibited.
Article 7
Everyone has the right to protection of his health, his family environment, and his
community, just as it is his duty to contribute to their development and defense. Any
individual unable to care for himself due to physical or mental disability has the right to
respect for his dignity and to a regime of protection, care, rehabilitation, and security.
Article 8
The State fights and punishes illicit drug trafficking. Likewise, it regulates the use of social
drugs.
TITLE II
THE STATE AND THE NATION
CHAPTER I
THE STATE, THE NATION, AND THE TERRITORY
Article 43
The Republic of Peru is democratic, social, independent, and sovereign.
The State is one and indivisible.
Its form of government is unitary, representative, and decentralized. It is organized pursuant to the principle of separation of powers.
Article 44
The fundamental duties of the State are to defend the national sovereignty, to guarantee full
enjoyment of human rights, to protect the population from threats to their security, and to
promote general welfare based on justice and the comprehensive and balanced development
of the Nation.
It is also the duty of the State to establish and implement the border policy and to promote
integration, in particular of Latin America, as well as the development and cohesiveness of
border zones, in accordance with the foreign policy.
Article 45
The power of the State emanates from the people. Those who exercise it do so within the limitations and under the responsibilities set forth by the Constitution and the law.
No individual, organization, branch of the Armed Forces, National Police force, or group of people may arrogate to themselves the exercise of such power. To do so constitutes
rebellion or sedition.
Article 46
No one owes obedience to a usurper government or to anyone who assumes public office in violation of the Constitution and the law.
The civil population has the right to insurrection in defense of the constitutional order. Acts of those who usurp public office are null and void.
TITLE III
THE ECONOMIC SYSTEM
CHAPTER I
GENERAL PRINCIPLES
Article 58
Private initiative is free. It is exercised within a social market economy. Under this system, the State guides the development of the country and it is principally active in promoting employment, health, education, security, public services, and infrastructure.
Article 59
The State promotes the creation of wealth and guarantees the freedom to work, as well as free enterprise, trade, and industry. The exercise of these freedoms must not be harmful to the public morals, health, or safety. The State provides opportunities to those sectors suffering from unequal opportunity for advancement. In this spirit, it promotes small businesses of all types.
Article 60
The State recognizes economic pluralism. The national economy is sustained in the coexistence of diverse forms of ownership and enterprise.
Authorized solely by express law, the State may subsidiarily engage in business activities, directly or indirectly, for reasons of high public interest or manifest national convenience.
Business activity receives the same legal treatment, whether public or private.
Article 61
The State facilitates and oversees free competition. It fights any practice that would limit it and the abuse of dominant or monopolistic positions. No law or arrangement may authorize or establish monopolies.
The press, radio, television, and other means of expression and social communication and, in general, enterprises, goods and services related to freedom of speech and communication, cannot be objects of exclusivity, monopoly, or hoarding, directly or indirectly, by the State or private parties.
CHAPTER V
CURRENCY AND BANKING
Article 83
The law determines the monetary system of the Republic. Issuance of bills and coins is under the exclusive power of the State. Such power is exercised through the Central Reserve Bank of Peru.
Article 84
The Central Bank is a corporate entity under public law. It is autonomous in conformity with its organic act.
Its aim is to preserve monetary stability. Its functions are: to regulate the currency and credit of the financial system, to manage the international reserve under its responsibility, and to perform other functions as provided in its organic act.
The Bank accurately and periodically informs the country about the state of the national finances under the responsibility of its Board of Directors.
TITLE IV
THE STRUCTURE OF THE STATE
CHAPTER I
THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH
Article 90
The Legislative Branch shall be vested in Congress, which has a single chamber.
There are 130 congressmen, elected for terms of five years through an election process organized in accordance with the law. Candidates for the presidency may not be among the lists of congressional candidates. Candidates for vice presidencies may simultaneously be congressional candidates.
CHAPTER IV
THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH
Article 110
The President of the Republic is the Head of the State and personifies the Nation.
To be elected President of the Republic, one must be Peruvian by birth, have attained the age of thirty-five years at the time of candidacy, and enjoy the right to vote.
CHAPTER V
THE CABINET
Article 119
The administration and management of public services are entrusted to the Cabinet and to each minister in the matters of his portfolio.
Article 120
Acts of the President of the Republic without ministerial countersignature are null and void.
Article 121
The collected ministers form the Cabinet. Its organization and duties are stipulated by law. The Cabinet has its own President. The President of the Republic presides over the Cabinet when he convenes it or when he attends its meetings.
Article 122
The President of the Republic appoints and removes the President of the Cabinet from office. He appoints and removes other ministers with the recommendation and consent respectively of the President of the Cabinet.
CHAPTER VIII
THE JUDICIAL BRANCH
Article 138
The power of administering justice emanates from the people. The Judicial Branch exercises it through its hierarchical entities in accordance with the Constitution and laws.
In all proceedings, when an incompatibility exists between a constitutional and a legal rule, judges shall decide based on the former. Likewise, they shall choose a legal rule over any other rule of lower rank.
Article 141
The Supreme Court may decide on judicial rulings as the court of last resort, when the action is filed with a Superior Court or before the Supreme Court itself, as provided by law.
It also hears annulment appeals for decisions of the Military Court, within the limits set forth in article 173.
Article 143
The Judicial Branch consists of jurisdictional bodies, which administer justice on behalf of the Nation, and bodies that exercise their government and administration.
The jurisdictional bodies are the following: the Supreme Court of Justice and the other courts and tribunals as determined by their organic acts.
Article 144
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is also the head of the Judicial Branch. The plenary session of the Supreme Court is the highest deliberation body of the Judicial Branch.
CHAPTER X
THE OFFICE OF THE PROSECUTOR GENERAL
Article 158
The Office of the Prosecutor General is autonomous. It is headed by the Prosecutor General of the Nation, who is elected by the Board of Supreme Prosecutors. The term of office for the Prosecutor General of the Nation is three years and it may be extended for another two years if reelected. Members of the Office of the Prosecutor General enjoy the same rights and prerogatives, and are subject to the same duties and legal incompatibilities, as their counterparts in the Judicial Branch. Likewise, their appointments are subject to the same requirements and procedures as those of members of the Judicial Branch within their respective categories.
TITLE V
CONSTITUTIONAL PROTECTIONS
Article 200
The following are the constitutional guarantees:
1. The writ of habeas corpus, which operates in case of an act or omission by any authority, official, or person that violates or threatens individual freedom or related constitutional rights.
2. The writ of amparo, which operates in case of an act or omission by any authority, official, or person that violates or threatens the other rights recognized by the Constitution, with the exception of those mentioned in the
following subparagraph. It does not take effect against legal rules or court orders from regular judicial proceedings.*
3. The writ of habeas data, which operates in case of an act or omission by any authority, official, or person that violates or threatens the rights referred to in article 2, subparagraphs 5, and 6 of this Constitution.
4. The writ of unconstitutionality, which operates against rules with the status of a law: laws, legislative decrees, emergency decrees, treaties, standing rules of Congress, regional general regulations, and municipal ordinances that infringe upon the Constitution either in form or in substance.
5. Popular action, acción popular, which operates in case of infringement of the Constitution and the law, against regulations, administrative rules, and general resolutions and decrees, irrespective of the authority that issues these rules.
6. The writ of mandamus, which operates against any authority or official who refuses to abide by a legal rule or administrative act, without prejudice to any legal liabilities.
Organic acts regulate the exercise of these protections and the effect of the declaration of unconstitutionality or illegality of a rule or statute.
The exercise of the writs of habeas corpus and amparo is not suspended during enforcement of the states of exception referred to in article 137 of the Constitution.
When petitions concerning these constitutional rights are filed with regard to restricted or suspended rights, the corresponding jurisdictional body examines the reasonability and proportionality of the restrictive act. The judge is not entitled to challenge the declaration of the state of emergency or siege.
Article 201
The Constitutional Court is the controlling body of the Constitution. It is autonomous and independent. It consists of seven members who are elected for five-year terms.
In order to become a member of the Constitutional Court, one must fulfill the same requirements as the Justices of the Supreme Court. Members of the Constitutional Court enjoy the same immunity and prerogatives as congressmen. The same incompatibilities apply to them, and they may not be immediately reelected.
Members of the Constitutional Court are elected by Congress with the positive vote of two-thirds of the legal number of its members. Judges and prosecutors who have not resignedtheir offices a year in advance are not eligible to be Constitutional Court magistrates.
TITLE VI
CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM
Article 206
Any initiative of constitutional reform must be adopted by Congress through an absolute majority of the legal number of its members, and must be ratified by a referendum. The referendum may be exempted when the consent of Congress is obtained in two successive regular sessions, with a favorable vote of greater than two-thirds of the legal number of congressmen in each case.
A law concerning a constitutional reform shall not be objected to by the President of the Republic.
The right to initiate a constitutional reform corresponds to the President with the approval of the Cabinet, to congressmen, and to a number of citizens equivalent to three-tenths of a percent (0.3%) of the voting population, with their signatures being verified by the corresponding electoral authority.
DECLARATION
THE DEMOCRATIC CONSTITUTIONAL CONGRESS
HEREBY DECLARES that Peru, a country in the Southern Hemisphere, connected to Antarctica by its projecting coastlines, as well as by ecological factors and historical background; and according to the rights and obligations it enjoys as a consultative party to the Antarctic Treaty, encourages the preservation of Antarctica as a zone of peace devoted to scientific research, and the enforcement of an international regime that, without impairing the legitimate rights of our Nation, promotes, in the benefit of all mankind, a rational and equitable development of Antarctic resources, and ensures the protection and preservation of the ecosystem of that continent.
