2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE FIVE - Agriculture (§§ 1 — 4706) › Chapter 18 - Sugar Corporation—Transfer of Assets and Debts to Sugarcane Growers (§§ 430 — 430i) › § 430a - Transfer authorization

(a) Subject to the requirement imposed by subsection (b) of this section, the negotiation leading to the transfer of the following assets of the Corporation or Authority to the enterprise(s) for the nominal value of one dollar ($1), is hereby authorized and approved:
(1) The Mercedita Refinery, which shall not be sold or otherwise transferred or leased to another enterprise, other than those specified in this chapter, while in operation. The Mercedita Refinery shall be repaired in its totality in three (3) phases, the first of which shall begin in 1998, and all of which shall be completed in the year 2000, when the refinery shall be transferred to the enterprises specified in this chapter;
(2) the Coloso and Roig Sugar Mills and the equipment and machinery located therein;
(3) the equipment and machinery of Mercedita and Plata Sugar Mills;
(4) the tracts of land leased by the Corporation to the degree in which they can be transferred;
(5) the tracts of land and the real estate necessary or convenient for the operation of the Coloso and Roig Sugar Mills and the Mercedita Refinery;
(6) the franchises, permits and brand names, including but not limited to the brand name “Snow White”, under which only sugar produced in Puerto Rico may be packaged, provided it is not necessary to import sugar to satisfy the local demand, in which case sugar produced outside of Puerto Rico may also be packaged under said brand name;
(7) the inventory and accounts payable, and
(8) any other chattels and real property assets of the Corporation and/or the Authority including, but not limited to, agricultural equipment and machinery, motor vehicles and other accessories and facilities which the Corporation possesses on the date of transfer and that may be useful in the business of cultivating, producing, processing and marketing sugarcane or its byproducts.
(b) The specific assets to be transferred to the enterprise(s) shall be only those that are designated in written documents signed by the Executive Director of the Corporation, or if the latter has been liquidated, by the Executive Director of the Authority, and in both cases, approved by the Board of Governors of the Authority; Provided, That the transfer of assets may be carried out through a single operation or by stages, according to the criteria established by the Executive Director of the Corporation, or if the latter has been liquidated, by the Executive Director of the Authority, with the approval of the Board of Governors of the Authority and subject to compliance on the part of the enterprises, with the requirements regarding the extension of land under cultivated agreed upon as a result of the negotiations approved herein. Said requirement shall be subject to the land available to the Authority for such purpose, in addition to the land under cultivation by the enterprises on the date of transfer.
(c) All those acts of the Secretary and the Executive Director of the Corporation and other responsible Government entities in relation to the transfer of assets to the enterprise(s), as well as all necessary and convenient acts effected by these to execute said transfer, including all the necessary and convenient steps taken before any state or federal forum or agency leading to the execution of said transfer, are hereby approved and ratified. Said actions must have the approval of the Board of Governors of the Authority.
(d) The transfer agreed to as a result of the negotiation approved herein shall be subject to the conditions imposed by this chapter; Provided, That said transfer shall be exempted from complying with the requirements established in § 242(d) of Title 28, part of the Puerto Rico Land Act. The transfer of assets of the Corporation and/or the Authority and the steps and actions undertaken by the Executive Director shall be subject to the approval of the Board of Governors of the Authority and the Legislature. The terms and obligations of this chapter shall be binding on the successors in law and assignees of the enterprise(s).
(e) The Executive Director of the Corporation or, if the latter has been liquidated, the Executive Director of the Authority, shall submit to the Legislature every three (3) months, periodic progress reports concerning the negotiations for the transfer to the colonos of the assets of the Corporation and/or the Authority, authorized by this chapter.
History —Sept. 5, 1996, No. 189, § 3; Dec. 28, 1997, No. 202, § 2.