What does a Peruvian notary certify when you get a signature or copy notarized, and when do you need it?

What a notary certifies in everyday procedures

Peru’s Notary Law, Decreto Legislativo 1049, groups several services people ask for under the name “certifications” (art. 95). The most common are:

• Certification of signatures, known in Peru as legalizar la firma.
• Certification of reproductions, what counter staff usually call a copia legalizada (notarized copy).
• Certified copies (copias certificadas), which are something else (see below).
• Delivery of notarial letters (cartas notariales).

When the notary authorizes one of these instruments, it attests that the act took place, the identity of the people involved and that they signed, and gives the document a certain date (fecha cierta, art. 97). What it does not do is guarantee that the content is true.

Getting a signature notarized

The notary certifies a signature on a private document when you signed it in the notary’s presence, or when the notary has no doubt that the signature is authentic. In both cases the notary must verify your identity and is responsible for doing so (art. 106, amended by D.L. 1232). The law adds that a certification made “indirectly” or only by comparing the signature with an ID card is not valid.

Three more rules:

• The notary is not responsible for the content of the document, and must say so in the certification, unless the document is in itself an unlawful act or contrary to morals (art. 108).
• The notary can certify signatures on documents in another language. The signer then takes full responsibility for the content (art. 109).
• If someone does not know how to sign or cannot sign, another person signs at their request and the notary asks for their fingerprint where possible (art. 107).

A notarized copy and a certified copy are not the same

• Certification of reproductions (art. 110). You bring the original and a copy. The notary signs that the copy is in complete conformity with the original («guarda absoluta conformidad con el original»). If the document has alterations, the notary may refuse or note them (art. 111). This is what almost everyone calls a copia legalizada; the TUO of Ley 27444 uses the phrase copias legalizadas notarialmente. Treating the two names as the same thing is our reading: D.L. 1049 does not use the word legalizada.
• Certified copy (art. 104). The notary transcribes, in full or in part, minutes and other documents, for example from a minutes book, noting the pages, the signatures and other details. The notary is not responsible for the content of the book or for who signed it (art. 105).

The notarial letter (carta notarial)

The notary delivers the letter to the recipient’s address within their jurisdiction and records the delivery, or what happened, on the duplicate returned to you (art. 100). If the address is outside that jurisdiction, the notary can send it by registered mail (art. 101).

What it proves is that the letter was delivered and on what date. It does not prove that what it says is true: the notary «no asume responsabilidad sobre el contenido de la carta, ni de la firma, identidad, capacidad o representación del remitente» (art. 102): no responsibility for the content, the signature, or the sender’s identity, capacity or authority.

If you need to draft one, the site has templates for a notarial payment demand letter and a notarial letter ending a rental contract.

What it costs

There is no official fee. Ley 26741, article 7, says the price of notarial services follows free competition. The same rule lets the Consejo del Notariado (the Ministry of Justice body that oversees notaries) set a maximum fee with Indecopi’s approval. In its December 2014 report, Indecopi said the working group created in 2012 for that fee schedule had done little, and it recommended repealing that power. We found no approved maximum since.

One limit is in the law: if the notary uses RENIEC’s online service to verify your identity, that charge must be listed separately on the receipt. Charging you more than RENIEC sets for that service is a serious disciplinary offense (art. 149-B(c)).

Ask the price first and compare. Always ask for a receipt.

For a government office, you often do not need a notary

This is the saving almost nobody uses:

• Notarized signatures. Decreto Legislativo 1246 bars public administration entities from requiring «legalización notarial de firmas, salvo que se exija por ley expresa»: notarized signatures, unless a law expressly requires them (art. 5.1.d). The same decree bars them from asking for a copy of your DNI; see public offices and DNI photocopies.
• Notarized copies. The consolidated text (TUO) of Ley 27444, the General Administrative Procedure Law, obliges entities to accept plain copies, with your sworn statement that they are authentic, instead of originals or notarized copies (art. 49.1.1). This applies «aun cuando una norma expresa disponga la presentación de documentos originales»: even when a rule expressly asks for originals (art. 49.3).
• The fedatario. If the entity asks for a document to be authenticated, every entity has in-house certifying officers (fedatarios) who do it for free: they compare the original with your copy and authenticate it. At your request, they can also certify your signature for the specific procedure that needs it (art. 138). That authentication is for that entity’s own procedures, not for use elsewhere.

These rules are for the public administration. They do not reach a bank, a company or a private individual. If a public office turns down your application for lack of a notary’s stamp, see what to do if a government procedure is refused.

If you are a foreigner

At the notary, the law tells the notary to require the DNI and, for foreigners, the identity or travel documents set for identifying foreigners in Peru, plus a current immigration status (calidad migratoria vigente) (art. 16.d, as amended by D.L. 1350). For public deeds (escrituras públicas), article 55.c adds that the notary requires your official identity document and checks Migraciones’ database of carnés de extranjería, passports and entry records. In practice: bring your carné de extranjería or passport and keep your immigration status up to date.

With a public office, the TUO of Ley 27444 says a foreigner may only be asked for a carné de extranjería or passport, as applicable (art. 48.1.5).

If the notarial document will be used outside Peru, it also has to go through the Foreign Ministry’s apostille, with its prior steps: we explain it in how to apostille a document in Peru.

If something goes wrong with a notary

Discipline over notaries is exercised by each notaries’ association’s Honor Tribunal and by the Consejo del Notariado, which is part of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights (art. 147). A decision of the Honor Tribunal can only be challenged by appeal, which the Consejo del Notariado decides.