Indecopi declares municipal barriers for advertising billboards in Piura illegal

The Commission of the Indecopi Regional Office of Piura declared three bureaucratic barriers illegal that the District Municipality of Castilla required to authorize the installation of advertising panels in its jurisdiction. The decision is contained in Final Resolution No. 0003-2026/CEB-INDECOPI-PIU, issued on August 12, 2026, and published in the Legal Norms section of the official newspaper El Peruano on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, on page 65.

The ruling is framed within Municipal Ordinance No. 04-2015-CDC, disseminated on the GOB.PE platform as a material action, whose numerals 9) and 14) of Article 22° and literals h), i), j), k), l), m), and n) of Article 60° were identified as the norm containing the barriers. The resolution bears the signature of Guillermo Chang Chuyes, president of the Commission of the Indecopi Regional Office – Piura, and is published under the heading of the National Institute for the Defense of Competition and the Protection of Intellectual Property (Indecopi).

According to the document, the municipality imposed requirements that are not provided for in the regulation approved by the Provincial Municipality of Piura, thereby exceeding the competencies conferred by Article 79° of Law No. 27972, Organic Law of Municipalities. Furthermore, it imposed a charge without having a current regulation that enabled its action, contravening the principle of legality of Article 36° of the Single Ordered Text of Law No. 27444, Law of General Administrative Procedure, and Article VIII of the Preliminary Title of Law No. 27972.

The three requirements declared illegal

• The requirement for the “Technical Safety Inspection Certificate for Buildings: Civil Defense (INDECI)” to request installation authorization by type of advertising panel.
• The requirement for a “copy of the electrical connection feasibility letter from the service provider company” for the same authorization process.
• The charge of 10% of the UIT per square meter for the use of public space for the installation of outdoor advertising elements.

The advertising supports affected by the charge

The questioned payment applied to six types of outdoor advertising elements:

• Simple or monumental panel.
• Unipolar, bipolar, and tripolar monumental panel.
• Volumetric.
• Palette or totem.
• Digital advertising panel or billboard.
• Hot air balloon.

The basis of the decision

The Commission maintained that the District Municipality of Castilla acted outside the framework that the Provincial Municipality of Piura had approved for outdoor advertising, and that the charge lacked current regulatory authorization. Both points were classified as illegal bureaucratic barriers in the final resolution of the procedure.

The document specifies that the infringing regulation was disseminated through the GOB.PE platform, which constituted a material action by the municipal entity and not merely a requirement contained within the text of the ordinance.

The resolution was issued on August 12, 2026, and disseminated in the Legal Norms edition of El Peruano corresponding to Wednesday, September 30, 2026, along with the rest of the Indecopi provisions for that day.

The decision exempts advertisers, agencies, and local companies in Castilla from presenting the Civil Defense (INDECI) certificate and the electrical feasibility letter to install advertising panels, and removes the basis for the payment of 10% of the UIT per square meter for the use of public space. Consequently, the authorization process for outdoor advertising in that district is subject only to the requirements provided in the provincial regulation, which reduces costs and deadlines for the advertising sector of the Piura region.

Source: El Peruano, Legal Norms, Wednesday, September 30, 2026, p. 65 (official reference: Res. N° 0003-2026/CEB-INDECOPI-PIU).