Indecopi declares the time barriers of San Juan de Lurigancho illegal

The Specialized Chamber for the Elimination of Bureaucratic Barriers of Indecopi declared the restrictions on the sale of alcoholic beverages and operating hours imposed by the District Municipality of San Juan de Lurigancho through Ordinances 334-MDSJL and 117-MDSJL to be illegal and lacking reasonableness. The decision is contained in Resolution No. 0549-2026/SEL-INDECOPI, dated August 26, 2026, published in the Official Gazette El Peruano on Sunday, October 25, 2026, in the Legal Norms section.

The case reached the Chamber following the first-instance ruling contained in Resolution 0332-2025/CEB-INDECOPI, dated August 19, 2025. The entity that imposed the barriers is the District Municipality of San Juan de Lurigancho, whose questioned norms are Article 4 of Ordinance 334-MDSJL—which regulates the commercialization, consumption, and advertising of alcoholic beverages, methyl alcohol, and adulterated beverages—and Article 48 and literals a) and b) of Article 50 of Ordinance 117-MDSJL, which regulates municipal authorization procedures linked to the operation of establishments in the district.

The ruling applies to bodegas, liquor stores, restaurants, and other establishments with an operating license in the district, which had been operating under the schedules set by the district commune.

The four questioned restrictions

The Chamber declared the following to be illegal bureaucratic barriers lacking reasonableness:

• The restriction of the time ranges indicated in numerals 1 to 4 of Article 4 of Ordinance 334-MDSJL for the sale or dispensing (sale and delivery) of alcoholic beverages.
• The general operating hours from 6:00 to 23:00 hours for establishments carrying out economic activities in the district, set in Article 48 of Ordinance 117-MDSJL.
• The special schedule from Sunday to Thursday until 02:00 the following day, and Friday, Saturday, and the eve of a holiday until 03:00 hours, applicable to the licensed establishments detailed in literal a) of Article 50.
• The special schedule from Sunday to Thursday until 22:00 hours, and Friday, Saturday, and the eve of holidays until 23:00 hours, for the establishments detailed in literal b) of Article 50.

No jurisdiction to restrict the sale of alcohol

Regarding the first measure, the Chamber maintained that the district municipality does not have the jurisdiction to establish restrictions on the commercialization of alcoholic beverages. It cited Article 3 of Law 28681, in accordance with numerals 1.1 and 3.1 of Article 83 of Law 27972, Organic Law of Municipalities: such jurisdiction corresponds to provincial municipalities.

Schedules without proven problematic issues

In the other three measures, the Chamber recognized that the district does have the competence to regulate the operating hours of commercial establishments, but it did not prove the existence of a concrete problem that would justify the restrictions in Article 48 and literals a) and b) of Article 50 of Ordinance 117-MDSJL. In particular, it did not demonstrate how operating outside the established hours would affect the invoked public interests, and therefore declared them to lack reasonableness.

The ruling does not disregard the municipal competence to regulate hours—which must be exercised respecting the reasonableness parameters of Legislative Decree 1256—nor its powers to control compliance with provincial provisions regarding the commercialization of alcoholic beverages. The resolution bears the signature of Gilmer Ricardo Paredes Castro, president of the Chamber.

A criterion that extends to other districts

On that same day, the Official Gazette El Peruano published Resolution No. 0550-2026/SEL-INDECOPI, which declared illegal bureaucratic barriers in equivalent provisions of the District Municipality of Chorrillos, contained in Ordinances 348-2019-MDCH, 085-MDCH, and 055-MDCH, also referring to the sale of alcoholic beverages and operating hours.

For bodegas, liquor stores, and restaurants in San Juan de Lurigancho, the ruling nullifies the hourly restrictions that limited their operation and reaffirms that the regulation of alcohol sales in the district corresponds to the provincial authority. This criterion is replicable for establishments in other district municipalities facing similar ordinances.

Source: Official Gazette El Peruano, Sunday, October 25, 2026 edition, Legal Norms section, p. 33 (official reference: Resolution No. 0549-2026/SEL-INDECOPI, publication code 2567628-1).