Peru’s Constitutional Court heard a challenge on Thursday 12 November 2026 to the extension of Reinfo, a register that lets small miners operate while they formalise, and left the case “al voto”. That means the judges will deliberate and rule later, and no date has been given.
Peru’s mining sector includes formal companies and informal miners working side by side, so the rules on illegal mining matter to supply chains and to investors who follow the sector. The court’s answer will shape how those rules are read after 31 December.
Key Facts
—Case. Peru’s Constitutional Court left a challenge to the Reinfo extension “al voto”, meaning judges rule later.
—Challenger. The Loreto Bar Association, a regional lawyers’ body, targets Law 32537 and Legislative Decree 1695 on illegal mining.
—Deadline. Law 32537 extends Reinfo, the small-miner register, to 31 December 2026.
—Government. The national government’s lawyer told the court the protection ends on 31 December.
—Unknown. No ruling date exists, and it is unclear whether the criminal exclusion for miners in formalisation survives.
Peru’s top constitutional judges will decide whether small miners can keep criminal protection while they formalise, but they have not said when.
What Happened at the Hearing
The Colegio de Abogados de Loreto, the Loreto Bar Association, filed the challenge against Law 32537, which extends Reinfo to 31 December 2026. It also targets Legislative Decree 1695, which changed criminal rules on illegal mining.
Samuel Abad Yupanqui, the lawyer for Loreto, argued that the Penal Code excludes from punishment people “in the process of formalisation”. He said that rule does not end with Reinfo on 31 December.
Court president Pedro Hernández Chávez asked whether people moved into a new regime for miners would lose that protection. Luz Pacheco, a magistrate, asked what a ruling would achieve if Reinfo ends in December.
Abad Yupanqui said the challenge aims at the criminal provision as well as the Reinfo extension. The hearing then closed with the case left “al voto”.
Why the Dispute Matters
Reinfo is the Registro Integral de Formalización Minera, a list of small miners who may keep working while they complete the paperwork to become legal. Law 32537 extends it to 31 December 2026.
The government’s constitutional prosecutor, Luis Alberto Huerta Guerrero, told the court that the Reinfo-linked protection “ends on 31 December”. He said the complaint confuses informal miners with people committing illegal mining and that the challenge was filed out of time.
Huerta also told the hearing that only 66 people completed formalisation between 2025 and 2026. We have not checked that number independently.
Congress’s lawyer, Juan Carlos Prado Herrera, defended the extension as a transition to a new framework for small-scale and artisanal mining. He told the hearing there were 29,580 active files in 2025, a figure we could not verify as an official statistic.
For US readers, the question is how Peru treats a large informal sector beside the formal companies that supply metals to world markets. Our Peru news coverage follows the mining and political debates around it.
What Is Not Known
The court has not said when or how it will rule. How prosecutors and judges will read the criminal provision after 31 December also remains unclear.
One judge said at the hearing that if the criminal provision is not amended it “remains in force”. The judge added that the new mining law should expressly amend that article of the Penal Code.
It is also not known whether Congress will pass the new law, known as Ley MAPE (the small and artisanal mining bill), or amend the article. How prosecutors and courts will apply the exclusion in practice is likewise open.
What to Watch Next
A bill for the new law on small and artisanal mining, known as Ley MAPE, is before a congressional committee chaired by Yenifer Paredes. It would create a new consolidation regime for small miners, and Energy and Mines Minister Guillermo Shinno has promoted it.
A forecast made around the hearing says the committee could vote on the bill in coming weeks, but nothing is scheduled. That is an expectation, not a calendar date.
The only fixed date is 31 December 2026, when the extension under Law 32537 runs out. Readers can watch for a court ruling date and for any new bill on Reinfo.
Sources
Primary sources: Tribunal Constitucional of Peru; Peruvian Ministry of Energy and Mines, Reinfo page; El Peruano, official gazette.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Reinfo in Peru?
Reinfo is the Registro Integral de Formalización Minera, a register of small miners who may operate while they formalise. Law 32537 extends it to 31 December 2026.
What did Peru’s Constitutional Court decide?
Nothing yet. On 12 November 2026 it heard arguments and left the challenge “al voto”, meaning the judges will deliberate and rule later, with no date given.
Who filed the challenge?
The Loreto Bar Association, a regional lawyers’ body, filed it. It targets Law 32537 and Legislative Decree 1695, which changed criminal rules on illegal mining.
What is Ley MAPE?
It is a bill for a new law on small and artisanal mining, now before a congressional committee. It would create a consolidation regime for small miners.
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