Adoption of the Sustainable Model: European Union Circular Economy and the Implementation of Environmental Regulations in Peru

Background This study examines how selected regulatory instruments and implementation principles from the European Union circular-economy framework can be adapted to strengthen the operational effectiveness of environmental regulation in Peru. Methods The study combines documentary and comparative regulatory analysis, semi-structured interviews with two key institutional informants from PRODUCE and MINAM, and a complementary bibliometric review of 2404 open-access Scopus-indexed documents processed with bibliometrix/Biblioshiny. Results The bibliometric corpus showed an annual growth rate of 45.71%, with 91.8% of publications concentrated in 2020–2025 and 32.7% international co-authorship. The co-word network positioned circular economy as the main bridging node and connected sustainability, the European Union, policy implementation, and regulatory frameworks, while consolidated clusters around waste management and life-cycle analysis remained visible. The EU–Peru comparison showed that Peru has expanded its formal circularity architecture but still faces gaps in enforceability, measurement, product traceability, and institutional coordination. Triangulation supported seven context-sensitive measures, including sector-specific EPR strengthening, auditable circularity reporting, Digital Product Passport pilots, ecodesign, an operational waste hierarchy, circularity criteria in environmental assessment, and performance-linked incentives. Conclusions The findings support selective and sequenced regulatory adaptation rather than direct transplantation of the EU model.