2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE FIVE - Agriculture (§§ 1 — 4706) › Chapter 23 - Fertilizer (§§ 501 — 535) › § 520 - Procedures for establishing grades and formulas

(a) The Secretary is hereby authorized to establish the number and the grades of all commercial fertilizer that may be manufactured, imported or sold for use in Puerto Rico. Except as provided below in subsection (c) of this section, no commercial fertilizer whatsoever or soil additive may be imported, manufactured or distributed for use in Puerto Rico, unless its grade and formula have been previously approved by the Secretary for each trademark of each product. The application for approval must be filed by the manufacturer or distributor of the commercial fertilizer or soil additive manufactured in Puerto Rico or, in the case of commercial fertilizer or soil additive imported or introduced into Puerto Rico from abroad, by the importer.
(b) The regulations to be established by virtue of §§ 519—535 of this title shall provide the procedure to be followed in the establishment and amendment of said grades of commercial fertilizers. To establish said procedure, the Secretary shall constitute a board, which shall be known as the Fertilizer Board, which shall consist of seven (7) members, among them, a representative of a bona fide growers organization. The composition of the Board shall be established through the regulations that the Secretary of Agriculture shall adopt to such effect. Said Board shall make recommendations to the Secretary on the grades and formulas of commercial fertilizers to be authorized for each trademark of each product, and the raw materials or other substances that may be used in commercial fertilizers and in the amendments to the soil authorized by the Secretary. Provided, That no materials other than those authorized by the Secretary shall be used in formulas for commercial fertilizers. The Secretary, with the advice of the aforementioned Board, may allow, whenever he/she deems it necessary and convenient, the manufacture or distribution in Puerto Rico of specific commercial fertilizers such as specialized fertilizers and raw materials for fertilizers that may be considered as commercial fertilizers, although containing less than the total of twenty-four percent (24%) per weight of the nutrient substances: nitrogen (N), assimilable phosphoric acid (P 2 O 5) and water soluble potash (K 2 O) required in § 526(3) of this title.
(c) Approval of the grade and formula of any commercial fertilizer which has been prepared according to specifications provided by the consumer or user of the same before it has been mixed, shall not be required; Provided, That such commercial fertilizer shall be labeled as provided in § 522 of this title.
(d) The application for approval of the grade and formula of any commercial fertilizer or soil additive shall be submitted to the Secretary on a form provided by the latter.
(e) Once a person has been given approval by the Secretary regarding the grade and formula of a certain commercial fertilizer or soil additive, said approval shall not be required for other persons who also distribute the same commercial fertilizer or soil additive, but they shall be required to remit a label to the Department.
History —May 8, 1973, No. 19, p. 57, § 2; July 20, 1979, No. 171, p. 443, § 2; Aug. 24, 1997, No. 103, § 2; Aug. 4, 2001, No. 90, § 2.