2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE FIVE - Agriculture (§§ 1 — 4706) › Chapter 23 - Fertilizer (§§ 501 — 535) › § 525 - Inspection, sample taking and analysis

(a) The Secretary shall be empowered to order the inspection, sample taking and analysis of the commercial fertilizers or amendments to the soil imported or distributed in Puerto Rico and to publish the results of such inspections and analyses in bulletins, newspapers, magazines or in any other manner deemed advisable for the knowledge of the public in general.
(b) In order to carry out the provisions of this section, the Secretary or his authorized representative is empowered to enter, during working hours, any farm, factory, building, warehouse, store, ship, vehicle or place where commercial fertilizers or amendments to the soil are manufactured, stored, transported, offered for sale or otherwise distributed or used in Puerto Rico. The Secretary or his representative shall also have free access, during regular working hours, to the books where the movements of commercial fertilizers and amendments to the soil are kept. Said officials shall be entitled to the protection and cooperation of competent authority in the discharge of their duties.
Any person who without reasonable justification refuses to let the Secretary or his authorized representative enter, during working hours, any farm, factory, building, warehouse, store, ship, vehicle or place where commercial fertilizers or amendments to the soil are manufactured, stored, transported, offered for sale, or otherwise distributed or used in Puerto Rico, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars ($300) or by imprisonment in jail for not more than thirty (30) days or by both penalties, in the discretion of the court.
(c) When the inspection or analysis of an official sample shows that a commercial fertilizer or amendment to the soil is adulterated, deficient, or falsely labeled, the Secretary shall notify by mail, with return receipt requested, the manufacturer and the distributor or importer thereof in Puerto Rico, granting them ten days to submit any pleading and informing them of their rights and possible penalties. Provided, That the manufacturer, distributor or importer or their representatives may request a portion of the official sample. When a portion of the official sample is requested, the period to submit pleadings shall be extended for fifteen days, reckoned from the date of remittance thereof. The report on the inspection or analysis of an official sample shall not be annulled or altered in any manner, unless adequate proof is presented to justify said action. If the manufacturer or distributor, or importer, as the case may be, does not submit any pleading within the aforesaid time, the result of the inspection and analysis of the official sample shall be considered final and unappealable, and the Secretary shall proceed as he deems pertinent, pursuant to the powers vested in him by §§ 519—535 of this title and as prescribed in the regulations promulgated hereunder. When the manufacturer, distributor, or importer submits any opposing pleading regarding the adulteration or false labeling of which he was notified, the Secretary shall issue a decision concerning the pleadings made and a verification of the analysis of the official sample shall be made in the laboratory in the presence of the manufacturer, distributor or importer.
History —May 8, 1973, No. 19, p. 57, § 7; July 20, 1979, No. 171, p. 443, § 6.