Throughout the 1980s, the ILD continued to work toward making the Peruvian government more accountable to the people. The nation’s economy was still weighed down by its mercantilist past, where legislation was used to obtain economic benefits for a privileged few.

To become a modern, efficient, productive and truly democratic state, it was essential for Peru to grant citizens access to information in the hands of authorities and public officials. To this end, in December 1986, the ILD proposed a draft law for access to public information.

Although the proposed legislation was further perfected through public hearings and generated wide support, the ILD did not succeed in getting it immediately passed into law. But the ILD persevered, and seven years later the proposed law was incorporated into the 1993 Constitution (Articles 4 and 5).

Currently, Peru’s Institute for the Defense of Free Competition and Intellectual Property Rights (INDECOPI), a consumer protection agency, requires state and municipal entities to publish periodically the costs, procedures and specific locales where each procedure is to be carried out. Peru’s utility companies (water, power and telephone) are also required to provide customers with ample information. This ILD inspired law for public access to information has also been included in the Civil Procedural Code (Article 239) and in the Law for Citizen Participation and Control Rights (Chapter IV).