2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-SEVEN - Public Service (§§ 1 — 2641) › PART III - Puerto Rico Public Service Act (§§ 1001 — 1282) › Chapter 54 - Duties and Liabilities of Public Service Companies and Private Carriers (§§ 1201 — 1202) › § 1201 - Public service companies

It shall be the duty of every public service company:
(a) Services and equipment.— To render its services when reasonably requested and to maintain adequate, efficient, just and reasonable services and equipment necessary to serve and promote the safety, health, comfort and convenience of its patrons and employees and of the public.
(b) Rates.— To render and furnish its services, or any portion thereof, for reasonable rates. Any unreasonable rate is illegal.
(c) Practices.— To establish, comply with, and put into effect reasonable practices with regard to the services and equipment rendered or to be rendered and their corresponding rates. Any unreasonable practice is illegal.
(d) Posting and filing of rates, regulations, etc.—
(1) To submit to the Commission, as it may require through rules for the purpose, and to publish and keep accessible to the public, rate schedules showing the rates and practices in force for any service offered or rendered by said company. Save when otherwise provided in this part, no public service company shall render any service until after the rate schedules have been submitted, published and taken effect, according to the provisions of this part and the rules adopted hereunder.
(2) If a common carrier, to file, in addition to the requirements of clause (1) of this subsection, as a part of said rate schedules, the time tables showing the distribution system of vehicles, vessels or other equipment used in the service rendered.
(3) To keep available for public inspection copies of said rate schedules, including time tables, at the places, in the number and manner and of the nature that the Commission may by rules prescribe. The Commission may, in its discretion, allow a public service company to publish and place at the disposal of the public, in addition to said rate schedules, simplified rate schedules. In case of discrepancy between such simplified schedules and those filed in the Commission, the schedules filed and in force shall prevail. The Commission may waive the requirement of the filing of rate schedules by any kind of common carriers, when it shall have promulgated rules or orders applicable to the operations and prescribing the rates of said type of common carriers.
(4) Public service companies which have filed rates in the Commission on the date this act takes effect, shall be governed by them until after modified pursuant to the provisions of this part.
(5) Public service companies operating in good faith on the date this act takes effect, shall not be bound to file their initial rates before sixty (60) days reckoning from the date their applications, filed in accordance with subsections (c) and (d) of § 1110 of this title, are approved by the Commission.
(e) Not to change rates or time tables without notice.— Not to make changes in its rates or time tables, unless thirty (30) days’ notice is given to the Commission and the public. Said notice shall be served as the Commission may by rule prescribe.
(f) Filing and approval of writings and agreements.— To submit to the Commission for approval certified copies of all contracts or other obligations entered into by such public service company with any person or with another public service company in relation with any of its activities under this part. The Commission may, however, by order or general ruling, exempt any public service company, in whole or in part, from the provisions of this part.
(g) Filing of reports.— To submit annually, on the date and in the manner and form required through order or rule by the Commission, full and accurate information relative to its legal and financial organization.
(h) Records to be kept in Puerto Rico.— To keep, in an office within Puerto Rico, all books, accounts, documents, records and notes as may be required by the Commission, and not to remove any of them from Puerto Rico except in accordance with such terms and conditions as may be prescribed by the Commission.
(i) Reports on transfer of evidences of indebtedness.— To report, as required by the Commission, on the disposal and application of the proceeds of all transfers of evidences of indebtedness and other securities as well as any pledges thereof. These reports shall be made under oath by the officer of the company having knowledge of the matter, and in such form and detail as the Commission may require.
(j) Specific duties of common carriers with regard to additions and substitution of equipment.— If a common carrier, not to add or substitute any equipment to be used in the conveyance of passengers or property, without the previous authorization of the Commission.
(k) Distribution of freight equipment without discrimination.— If a common carrier engaged in the transportation of freight or property, which at any given time may lack sufficient facilities to meet the demand for transportation of such freight or property, it shall distribute all available facilities equitably among the several applicants therefor, without unfair discrimination as between shippers or localities. But it may always give preference to the supply of facilities for the shipment of perishable goods.
(l) Verification of meters and measures.— If a public service company or municipal corporation furnishing its service or product by meter or other similar measurement, to provide, keep and maintain in its premises suitable and proper equipment so that the Commission may verify and test the accuracy of the meters. Such verification or testing shall be made officially or upon written request of the user, and in his presence, if he shall so desire. If the meter so verified shall be found to be correct within the tolerances the Commission may fix for such meters, the user who has requested the inspection shall pay a reasonable fee, to be fixed by the Commission, which shall be sufficient to cover the cost of such testing. But, if not so found, the cost of the testing shall be paid by the municipal corporation or public service company concerned.
(m) Reports on accidents and deaths.— To give immediate notice and furnish reports to the Commission on the happening of any accident in connection with the service rendered wherein any person shall have been killed or injured. Such report shall not be open for public inspection, except by order of the Commission. Neither shall such report be admitted in evidence for any purpose in any suit or action for damages arising for any matter mentioned therein.
(n) Cessation of service.— It may not discontinue, reduce, or impair the service it renders to a community without first obtaining a certificate from the Commission to the effect that such action shall not adversely affect public necessity and convenience. A taxicab enterprise, special bus, or special bus company, except tourist taxicab enterprises regulated by the “Puerto Rico Tourist Ground Transportation Act”, or public vehicle enterprise operating a single vehicle, a ticket agency or a transportation broker may cease operations without obtaining such a certificate from the Commission. Said taxicab enterprise, except tourist taxicab enterprises regulated by the “Puerto Rico Tourist Ground Transportation Act”, or special bus or special bus company, public vehicle enterprise, ticket agency or transportation broker shall, however, surrender to the Commission the authorization granted to it by the latter within thirty (30) days following the cease of operations.
(o) To obey orders and rules of Commission.— Must abide by the orders and rules issued or adopted by the Commission in the exercise of the powers conferred on it by this part. The holder of any authorization shall be liable for noncompliance with any orders or rules through the action or commission of its officers.
History —June 28, 1962, No. 109, p. 288, § 38; July 26, 1979, No. 193, p. 547, § 1; Dec. 19, 2002, No. 282, § 70, eff. 180 days after Dec. 19, 2002; Aug. 16, 2012, No. 173, § 6.