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Peru Enacts Law Creating National DNA Profile Database for Criminal Cases and Missing Persons

The move ends reliance on foreign labs to back police and court work.

Overview

  • Congress leader Fernando Rospigliosi signed the bill Wednesday at the Legislative Palace, formally creating the National DNA Profile Database.
  • The National Police’s forensics directorate will administer the system under Article 166 of the Constitution, which assigns it criminal investigative duties.
  • Use is limited to active investigations with built-in deletion of records when storage is not warranted, alongside protections for privacy and equal treatment.
  • The police chief said the tool will add scientific rigor to work with prosecutors and judges and will remove the need to ship biological samples abroad.
  • The law relies on legally obtained, non-coding DNA for matching evidence and is designed to interoperate with foreign registries to combat organized crime.