PERU Law and Practice Contributed by: Alfred Kossuth Wieland and Edgardo Bernal Santos, Thorne, Echeandia & Lema Abogados
10.3 Employment Protection Under Peruvian labour law, employees do not lose their labour rights in the event of an acquisition, change of control or other investment transaction, due to the application of the principle of continuity of the employment relationship. If the business continues to operate, the new employer automatically assumes all existing labour obligations, including wages, statu - tory benefits, collective bargaining agreements and working conditions, and such transaction does not, by itself, give rise to any right to severance nor to the termination of employment. Notice and severance pay are only applicable in cases of unfair dismissal. Where a trade union exists, the employer must respect freedom of association and the continued validity of collective bargaining agreements, and must comply with the duties of information and good faith in labour relations when the transaction directly affects working conditions. 11. Intellectual Property and Data Protection 11.1 Intellectual Property Considerations for Approval of FDI Intellectual property is not an important aspect in screening FDI in Peru. 11.2 Intellectual Property Protections Peru provides strong intellectual property protec - tions. The applicable legal framework is aligned with the Andean Community regulations, particularly Deci - sions 351 and 486, and is supplemented by domestic legislation and Peru’s adherence to key international treaties such as the Berne Convention and the Agree - ment on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Prop - erty Rights (TRIPS). Intellectual property rights – including patents, trade marks, industrial designs, copyrights and trade secrets – are generally enforceable through special - ised administrative proceedings before INDECOPI, with access to injunctive relief, as well as administra - tive and judicial review mechanisms.
However, certain limitations and practical considera - tions apply, depending on the type of right. In the case of patents, protection is limited to inventions that are globally novel, involve an inventive step and are capa - ble of industrial application, with certain uses being expressly excluded from protection. Prior disclosure typically destroys novelty, rights are constitutive upon grant, and the average time for issuance is approxi - mately four years. In addition, the system is strictly formalistic: failure to respond timely to office actions or to pay annuities results in the irreversible loss of rights. Industrial designs are protected for a non- renewable term of ten years, while trade marks are subject to cancellation for non-use after the third year. With respect to copyright, protection is broad and arises automatically, but only natural persons may be recognised as authors and retain moral rights, even where economic rights are transferred to legal entities. Databases are protected only where the selection or arrangement of their contents constitutes an intellec - tual creation, and the current legal framework does not expressly address the protection of works gen - erated by artificial intelligence. Trade secrets benefit from indefinite protection, provided their confidential nature is effectively maintained. 11.3 Data Protection and Privacy Considerations Peru has a specific and well-established legal frame - work for the protection of personal data. At the con - stitutional level, the Political Constitution of Peru recognises as a fundamental right that information technology services, whether public or private, must not provide information that infringes personal or fam - ily privacy. More specifically, Law No 29733 (the Per - sonal Data Protection Law, which has been in force since 2011) regulates the processing of personal data and sets out the applicable principles, the rights of data subjects (the ARCO rights: access, rectification, cancellation and opposition), and the obligations of those who process personal data. This legal regime is complemented by Supreme Decree No 016-2024-JUS and the Regulations of Law No 29733, which further develop procedures, definitions, security measures and technical guidelines for the effective implemen - tation of the law.
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