Unauthorized recurring charges and subscriptions in Peru: what you can do

What the law says about subscriptions and automatic charges

Peru does not yet have a single, detailed “automatic renewal” article as elaborate as those in some other countries (Spain, Mexico). But two concrete legal pieces protect people who are charged without having given clear consent:

1. The Consumer Protection and Defense Code (Ley 29571) recognizes, in article 1.1.c, the consumer’s right to protection of their economic interests, in particular against abusive clauses and coercive commercial methods.
2. Decreto Legislativo N° 1729 (in force since February 13, 2026) amended article 56, literal h) of that same Code to expressly ban, as a coercive commercial method, “involuntary subscriptions” and “predetermined additional purchases” — what other countries call dark patterns: interface designs meant to make you accept something without realizing it, or to make cancellation nearly impossible.

This same decree requires every digital platform that targets the Peruvian market — including those with no office or legal representative in the country, such as many international streaming or gym apps — to maintain accessible, permanently operational complaint systems, with at least one email address enabled to handle questions, complaints, suggestions, and refunds.

As of this writing, Indecopi was still working on the implementing regulation the decree required within 180 days of publication, so some operational details (the exact format of the complaint channel, response deadlines, specific fines per violation) may not yet be finalized.

What to do if you’re charged for a subscription without clear consent

• Check how you gave consent. If you accepted a pre-checked box, a “gift” or free trial that turned into a charge without clear notice, or if the renewal price was never shown to you before being charged, that’s a strong sign of a banned coercive commercial method.
• Try to cancel through the same channel you signed up in. If you signed up online, you cannot be required to go through an in-person process or a much harder channel just to cancel.
• Keep all the evidence: screenshots, the date and time of every cancellation attempt, support emails, and the exact charges on your statement.

The bank route: disputing the charge as “unrecognized”

If the provider doesn’t respond or keeps charging you, your bank or card issuer is, in practice, one of the fastest paths. The SBS Credit and Debit Card Regulation (Resolución 6523-2013) gives you at least 30 calendar days from the issue date of your statement to object to a charge, and requires the bank to have channels for reporting “improper charges” and “operations you don’t recognize.” In addition, under Resolución SBS N° 02286-2024, if the operation was made without a second authentication factor (for example, without a dynamic code or in-app confirmation), the bank must absorb the loss unless it proves you were responsible.

You can read more about this process in the guide on filing a complaint with your bank.

If you bought online, also check your right of withdrawal

If the charge relates to a purchase or subscription made online recently, you may also be protected by the right of withdrawal in online purchases, regardless of whether the automatic renewal terms were clear or not.

Foreign platforms with no office in Peru: the most uncertain part

Here it’s worth being honest: although Decreto Legislativo 1729 requires — on paper — platforms like Netflix, Spotify, or international gym apps to keep a complaint channel even without a base in Peru, Indecopi’s real ability to enforce a sanction against a company with no assets or representative in the country remains limited in practice. So if you’re being charged by a purely foreign platform with no local commercial ties, disputing the charge with your bank will almost always be your most effective route, alongside any direct complaint to the platform.

When to file with Indecopi

File your complaint with Indecopi when:

• A provider with a presence in Peru (a gym, a local app, a store) refuses to cancel your subscription or keeps charging you after your request.
• You notice a design pattern deliberately meant to make cancellation hard (a dark pattern).
• You already filed with the Complaints Book and got no response within the required deadline.