Do businesses in Peru have to show their prices before you buy?

What article 5 says

Article 5 of the Consumer Protection and Defence Code has three paragraphs, one per type of business.

5.1 — Every commercial establishment. Prices must be shown «de manera fácilmente perceptible para el consumidor» in the display space, and the business must also keep «una lista de precios de fácil acceso a los consumidores». Two duties: a price on the product, and a list available.

5.2 — Pharmacies. For pharmaceutical products, medical devices and sanitary products, pharmacies must make available to the consumer a price list sorted alphabetically by international nonproprietary name (denominación común internacional). That is the generic name of the active ingredient, not the brand. It lets you compare what the same drug costs under different labels.

5.3 — Restaurants, bars and hotels. Establishments serving food and drink, and lodging and hospitality services, must post their price lists outside, accessibly and visibly. The same paragraph adds the sentence that settles most arguments: «está prohibido el cobro de montos adicionales por cualquier tipo de concepto o recargo de manera disgregada al precio final, con excepción del recargo al consumo por concepto de servicio de los trabajadores previsto en norma especial, en cuyo caso debe informarse al consumidor de manera oportuna, accesible y visible». Your other rights at a hotel are covered in what rights you have as a hotel or hostal guest.

What “easily perceptible” means

The statute sets no font size and no format. It says the price must be visible without effort, where the product is. In practice:

• A price that only appears when a code is scanned is not in the display space.
• A price in a list you have to ask staff for meets the second duty (accessible list), not the first (price in the display space).
• A price sign that is covered, or placed where it cannot be seen from where you choose the product, is not easily perceptible.

That is our reasonable reading of the text; the statute does not spell it out in those words.

Restaurants: the menu at the door and the “extras”

The 5.3 rule has two parts worth separating.

The first is about display: the price list goes outside. You should be able to decide whether to go in knowing the prices. A restaurant that only shows the menu once you are seated is in breach.

The second is about price integrity: nothing separate. Cubierto, bread, service, a “table fee”, a live-music charge, a card fee buried in the bill: all of these are add-ons “por cualquier tipo de concepto”, and they are prohibited. The one named exception is the recargo al consumo, which has its own rule and its own conditions. There is a separate page on it.

What to do if there is no list, or you are overcharged

1. Photograph the missing list, the covered sign, or the unpriced menu.
2. If you were charged a separate add-on, keep the receipt.
3. Libro de reclamaciones, citing the paragraph that applies (5.1, 5.2 or 5.3).
4. No useful answer: Indecopi’s Reclama Virtual. To seek a sanction, a denuncia through the Mesa de Partes.

If you run a business

Three things are enough: a visible price on every displayed product, a price list any customer can consult without asking, and at restaurants, bars and hotels that list at the door. If you charge a recargo al consumo, disclose it beforehand, on the list, and add nothing else outside the final price.