2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE SEVEN - Banking (§§ 1 — 3116) › PART III - Other Financial Institutions (§§ 551 — 1390) › Chapter 86 - Cooperative Savings and Credit Associations Act of 2002 (§§ 1361 — 1371b) › Subchapter V - Assemblies, Board of Directors and Committees (§§ 1365 — 1365w) › § 1365d - Board of Directors—Requirements

Only those members who, at the moment of their election or designation, meet and comply with the following requirements during their entire incumbency in their respective offices, may be members of the Board of Directors of a cooperative:
(a) Be natural persons.
(b) Have not been convicted of felonies or misdemeanors that imply fraud, embezzlement, or moral turpitude. Nor can persons who have been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor that constitutes a violation of honesty or public trust. Every person elected or designated to any Board of Directors of a cooperative shall present a Negative Criminal Record Certificate, duly issued by the Puerto Rico Police, no later than sixty (60) days after their election or designation.
(c) Comply with the regulations adopted by the Corporation to preserve its integrity and prevent conflicts of interest in the cooperatives.
(d) Hold no direct or indirect economic interest in any profit or nonprofit public or private enterprise, whose business competes with the businesses of the cooperative.
(e) Produce evidence of their capability to hold office, complying with all the requirements established in the general bylaws of the cooperative. No person who is declared to be legally disabled may be a member of the Board of Directors or of any committee of the cooperative.
(f) Do not hold office on the Boards of Directors of any other savings and credit cooperative.
(g) Do not, or have not, held the position of executive officer or employee of a cooperative, the Cooperative Bank, nor cooperative underwriters during the last twenty-four (24) months.
(h) Eligible to be covered by a fidelity bond for the cooperatives, except in the case of members of the assembly of delegates or those who aspire to be, to whom this requirement shall not apply.
(i) Have not been dismissed as members nor removed from office as members of a board of directors or as an executive officer of any cooperative, for the causes stated in this chapter, or as a member of the Board of Directors or the committees, or as executive officer of any bank or savings bank, as defined in the Puerto Rico Banking Act, or the Puerto Rico Savings Bank Act, respectively, or the Cooperative Bank of Puerto Rico.
(j) For the twelve (12) months prior to the election or designation, not have shown any noncompliance with any of their obligations and debts with the cooperative, including the annual or periodic payments to their share account as required by the general regulations of the cooperative.
(k) Take and approve the training courses endorsed by the Corporation during the first year of their appointment and subsequently comply with the continuing education requirements adopted by the Corporation through regulations. Provided, That these requirements shall not apply to the members or those persons or those who hope to be on the assembly of delegates.
(l) Any person who, as of the effective date of this act holds an elected position in the central government or as mayor, may be a member of the Board of Directors nor the committees, with the exception of persons who hold office as municipal legislators.
Every person who upon their election or designation to an office on a Board of Directors shows any of the causes of ineligibility described in this section shall be impeded from holding and performing his/her office, without it being necessary to engage in an ejection procedure. In such cases, the office shall be declared vacant and shall be filled as provided in § 1365g of this title.
History —Oct. 28, 2002, No. 255, § 5.05; Oct. 7, 2009, No. 119, § 1.