2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE NINE - Highways and Traffic (§§ 1-8 — 5725) › Chapter 26 - Mandatory Registration and Protection of Heavy Equipment of Puerto Rico (§§ 3501 — 3539) › Subchapter I - Title, Public Policy, and Definitions (§ 3501) › § 3501 - Definitions

The following terms shall have the meaning stated below, unless any context within this chapter clearly indicates otherwise:
(a) Law enforcement officer. — Shall mean an officer of the Puerto Rico Police, the Special Investigations Bureau, or the Internal Revenue officers of the Department of the Treasury.
(b) Local authorities. — Shall mean all government bodies, including public corporations and municipal legislatures of the municipalities of Puerto Rico with the authority to legislate or promulgate regulations on the matter of vehicle traffic in the areas under their jurisdiction pursuant to the laws in effect.
(c) Certificate of ownership. — Shall mean the document issued by the Secretary of the Department of Transportation and Public Works which attests to the ownership by a natural or juridical person over a unit, as well as all the data required by this chapter in connection with the description and identification of said unit, and the form and the information necessary to transfer said ownership.
(d) Heavy construction or agricultural equipment unit dealer. — Shall mean any natural or juridical person engaged in the business of buying or selling heavy construction or agricultural equipment.
(e) Services provider. — Shall mean any natural or juridical person authorized by the Secretary of the Department of Transportation and Public Works to render a service which is regularly provided by the Department.
(f) Special dealer. — Shall mean any natural or juridical person who engages in the business of buying, recovering, salvaging, repairing, rebuilding, and selling heavy construction or agricultural equipment units in limited quantities pursuant to the provisions of this chapter and has been previously authorized by the Secretary of the Department of Transportation and Public Works, subject to the regulations promulgated by the latter to that effect.
(g) Department. — Shall mean the Department of Transportation and Public Works.
(h) Unit owner. — Shall mean the natural or juridical person who has heavy construction or agricultural equipment units registered in his/her name at the Department.
(i) General Fund. — Shall mean the General Fund of the Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(j) Vehicle Identification Number (VIN).— Shall mean the identification number assigned by the manufacturer and used by the Department as the identification exclusive to the unit in question.
(k) License plate. — Shall mean the individual identification of a unit issued by the Secretary, which may contain numbers or letters or a combination of both.
(l) Police. — Shall mean the Puerto Rico Police.
(m) Municipal police. — Shall have the meaning established in Sections 2 through 17 of Act No. 45 of May 22, 1996, as amended, known as the “Municipal Police Act”, or in any subsequent law governing the same.
(n) Holder. — Shall mean any person who has heavy construction or agricultural equipment units in his/her possession.
(o) Ridiculous price or value. — Shall mean a low sales price that is not in proportion to the price at which a vehicle or part is normally sold in the usual market for said goods.
(p) Secretary. — Shall mean the Secretary of Transportation and Public Works.
(q) Superintendent. — Shall mean the Superintendent of the Puerto Rico Police.
(r) Heavy construction or agricultural equipment units, units, or unit. — Shall means any self-propelled vehicle used in the construction industry or with commercial, industrial or agricultural purposes that is not classified as or that is excluded from the definition of “motor vehicle” in the “Puerto Rico Vehicle and Traffic Act”, §§ 5001 et seq. of this title, such as but not limited to traction machines, road rollers, tractors used for agricultural purposes, mechanical shovels, equipment for building roads, machines for digging deep wells, small-tire vehicles used in factories, warehouses, and railroad stations; vehicles that move on railways, by sea, or by air; diggers; bulldozers; traxcavators; rollers; scrapers; D-series equipment; tow trucks; asphalt dispensers; excavators; fire trucks; off-road trucks; steam rollers; equipment to strand vessels designed or built to transport assembled boats or hulls or such. Retail price is over ten thousand dollars ($10,000).
History —Sept. 30, 2004, No. 531, § 1.03, eff. 6 months after Sept. 30, 2004.