2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-ONE - Municipalities (§§ 1-4 — 6756) › Subtitle 3 - General Provisions (§§ 621-639 — 1100a) › Chapter 96 - Municipal Economic and Tourist Development Incentives Act (§§ 1040 — 1053) › § 1042 - Decree applications

(a) An eligible business may request a decree under this chapter by submitting an initial written application to the Selection Committee. All decree applications shall be received within the first five (5) years of approval of this act. No decree application shall be processed if submitted to the Selection Committee after such five (5) year term as of the date of approval of this act has elapsed; provided, however, that all decrees executed hereunder may be amended even after such five (5) year term has elapsed, insofar as such amendments do not contravene the provisions set forth in this chapter.
(b) The Selection Committee shall adopt rules and/or a protocol in order to, among others, govern the process of receiving and considering decree applications, establish processing fees, and adopt procedures for the analysis of decree applications and the publication of decree applications or decree renewal and other relevant documents, except for any confidential proprietary information, over the Internet or any other communications medium.
(c) The Selection Committee shall consider all decree applications and shall be authorized to grant a decree to an eligible business.
(d) When determining whether a favorable or unfavorable recommendation should be issued, the Selection Committee shall consider, in addition to any other condition established by the Selection Committee, whether the eligible business that applies for a decree meets the following conditions:
(1) The decree application meets all the requirements established for such applications by the Selection Committee, including any dues.
(2) The eligible business is authorized to do business in Puerto Rico.
(3) The eligible business has enough shares or corporate capital and access to enough financial resources to develop and operate the project for the benefit of Puerto Rico.
(4) The eligible business is able to show that it enjoys an excellent reputation and has the managerial, organizational, and technical capabilities, as well as the experience to develop and manage the project for the benefit of Puerto Rico.
(5) The eligible business has certified and shown that the eligible business or any of its shareholders and any affiliated person, and their respective officials, directors, and key employees have not bee[n] convicted of crimes involving dishonesty, fraud, corruption, or moral depravity in any foreign or domestic jurisdiction, and that all of them qualify to apply for a game room or casino license pursuant to the provisions of §§ 71 et seq. of Title 15. Provided, That the final determination to grant a license to operate a room for games of chance shall be made by the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions, as provided in this chapter and §§ 71 et seq. of Title 15, and after the appropriate investigations have been conducted.
(6) The eligible business shall be willing to develop a project in an eligible municipality whose revenues have diminished in the area of municipal licenses, when the sum of the revenues for fiscal years 2006-07 and 2007-08 are compared with the sum of the revenues for fiscal years 2001-02 and 2002-03, if the Selection Committee so requires.
(7) The tourist project proposed by the eligible business shall have and be completed with an investment of private capital only, without any contribution of capital from public funds, and the capital investment shall be for an amount exceeding five hundred million dollars ($500,000,000), including the cost of land plots and the private infrastructure to develop the project successfully. Furthermore, said project shall have at least the following three (3) basic components:
(A) A world-class hotel with at least a four-star rating according to the Mobile Four Star Rating system, as recognized by the tourist industry.
(B) Business and recreational establishments.
(C) The necessary elements to comply with the definition of tourist facilities, as defined in this chapter.
(8) When issuing a recommendation to grant or deny a decree to an eligible business, the Selection Committee shall take into account, among others, the following factors:
(A) The total amount of investment that the eligible business has committed to make;
(B) the total investment proposed for each of the components of the Project established in this chapter;
(C) the revenues that the various components of the proposed Project are expected to generate;
(D) the number of jobs that are expected to be created during both the construction stage and subsequently the Project operation stage;
(E) the experience, knowledge, resources, and reputation of the eligible business to build and operate a Project of this magnitude;
(F) the general quality of the proposed project and its competitive level as compared to similar developments in other parts of the world;
(G) the need and convenience of the location of the tourist project, and
(H) the costs and benefits for Puerto Rico if a decree is issued.
(I) For the decree to be granted, the Selection Committee shall determine if the proposed project shall significantly benefit the economic development of the municipality where the same shall be constructed and whether it would also benefit neighboring municipalities.
History —Aug. 1, 2010, No. 118, § 6.