OEFA, Peru's environmental assessment and enforcement agency

The Environmental Assessment and Enforcement Agency (OEFA) is the specialised technical public body, attached to the Ministry of the Environment, that checks whether companies meet their environmental obligations and penalises them when they do not. It is governed by Law 29325, the Law on the National Environmental Assessment and Enforcement System, as amended by Law 30011 of 26 April 2013. Besides enforcing directly, OEFA is the governing body of SINEFA, the system made up of the Ministry of the Environment, OEFA itself and the national, regional and local Environmental Enforcement Entities.

Powers

Article 11 of Law 29325, as in force, distinguishes the powers it exercises over regulated entities from those it exercises as governing body:

• Assessment: surveillance, monitoring and similar activities to check compliance with environmental rules.
• Direct supervision: follow-up and verification of compliance with environmental obligations, with the power to issue preventive measures and to encourage voluntary remediation.
• Enforcement and sanction: investigating possible infringements and imposing penalties for breaches of environmental management instruments, environmental rules, environmental commitments in concession contracts and OEFA's own orders, with the power to issue precautionary and corrective measures.
• Rulemaking and supervision of public bodies, as governing body of SINEFA. Under its rulemaking power it classifies infringements and approves penalty scales.

The Environmental Enforcement Tribunal decides as the final administrative instance, through specialised chambers. The Board of Directors approves the Annual Environmental Assessment and Enforcement Plan (PLANEFA).

Which sectors it covers

OEFA's direct environmental enforcement covers the sectors progressively transferred to it. According to the official information published on the Peruvian State platform, as of mid-2025 these were mining, fisheries, industry, agriculture and irrigation, hydrocarbons, electricity, solid waste, education, justice and culture. In sectors not transferred, enforcement falls to the competent Environmental Enforcement Entity, which acts with functional independence but is bound by the rules OEFA issues as governing body.

The supervision regime in force

The applicable Supervision Regulations are those approved by Board Resolution 00019-2025-OEFA/CD, published on 23 July 2025, which repealed the previous 2019 regulations. They classify supervision in two ways:

• By timing: regular, when periodic and planned, and special, when triggered by an environmental emergency, a complaint, another body's request or the verification of administrative measures.
• By purpose: control supervision, aimed at verifying the environmental management of a supervised unit, and guidance supervision, non-punitive and aimed at promoting compliance.

Two features matter especially to anyone managing compliance: voluntary remediation before charges are notified, and the compliance undertaking, a formal record the regulated entity may ask to sign before an administrative measure is imposed, setting out obligations and deadlines, except where there is imminent danger.

What it requires companies to report

OEFA does not impose a single universal environmental report. What it requires depends on the sector and on each supervised unit's environmental management instrument. These are the most cross-cutting reporting duties:

• Environmental emergency reports. Governed by the Regulations approved by Board Resolution 018-2013-OEFA/CD. In the event of a fire, explosion, spill or extraordinary discharge, the regulated entity has up to 12 hours from the event to confirm the preliminary report and 10 working days from the following day for the final report, both through the Environmental Emergency Management System on OEFA's Single Digital Services Platform. An extension of the final report deadline can be requested.
• Solid waste reporting. OEFA supervises and enforces compliance with Legislative Decree 1278, including the Annual Declaration on Minimisation and Management of Non-Municipal Solid Waste and the Hazardous Waste Manifests filed through SIGERSOL. It also compiles and updates the National Inventory of Areas Degraded by Solid Waste.
• Commitments in the environmental management instrument. Monitoring, reports and measures committed in an Environmental Impact Declaration or Environmental Impact Study are themselves enforceable environmental obligations.

Penalties

OEFA's Board approves the penalty scale on the basis of article 136 of Law 28611, the General Environmental Law. That article provides for a warning, a fine of no more than 10,000 tax units (UIT), seizure, suspension or restriction of the activity, suspension or cancellation of permits, and closure. Paying the fine does not release the company from compliance: where the breach persists, a proportional fine of up to 100 UIT per month may follow. For 2026 the UIT was set at 5,500 soles by Supreme Decree 301-2025-EF. Infringements and penalties are classified as minor, serious and very serious.

One detail with a direct reputational effect: MINAM will not award the Huella de Carbono Perú diploma or seal to an organisation with an outstanding OEFA penalty or coercive fine.

Frequently asked questions

Does OEFA supervise every company?

No. It directly enforces in the sectors transferred to it. Elsewhere, the competent national, regional or local Environmental Enforcement Entity does so, under the rules OEFA issues as governing body of SINEFA.

How quickly must an environmental emergency be reported?

The preliminary report must be confirmed in the online form within 12 hours of the event, and the final report within 10 working days from the following day.

What is voluntary remediation?

The option to correct an alleged breach before charges are notified, set out in the supervision power under Law 29325 and developed in the 2025 Supervision Regulations.

What is the maximum fine?

OEFA's penalty scale rests on article 136 of the General Environmental Law, which sets a fine of no more than 10,000 UIT, plus coercive fines of up to 100 UIT per month while the breach persists.

If you want to face a supervision visit with environmental data organised and traceable back to source documents, start with the waste management solution.