2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE FIVE - Agriculture (§§ 1 — 4706) › Chapter 41 - Regulation of Milk Industry (§§ 1081 — 1125a) › § 1096 - Powers and duties of Administrator

(a) General powers.— The Administrator shall have power to investigate and regulate all phases of the milk industry and milk byproducts in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, including the production, processing, sterilization, manufacture, storage, purchase and sale, transportation and distribution of the main product and its byproducts.
The Administrator shall be responsible for verifying and ensuring that the Puerto Rico Milk Industry Inc. meets the requirements established in § 197 of Title 13, in accordance with the parameters set forth therein.
(b) In addition to the foregoing and to those other powers recognized under other provisions of §§ 1092—1118 of this title, the Administrator shall also have the following attributes and powers:
(1) To appoint, with the approval of the Secretary, the officers necessary to carry out his functions and to confer and impose on them the necessary faculties and duties.
(2) To carry out investigations, on request of interested parties or motu proprio, relative to alleged violations of such sections, as well as any other investigations necessary for the proper administration of such sections.
(3) To develop and maintain satisfactory marketing conditions tending to protect the production and distribution of milk and its byproducts.
(4) To work out the necessary plans to dispose of milk surplus, that the industry as a whole be safeguarded.
(5) To establish processing and sterilizing standards and patterns for the grading, packing, bottling, canning, labeling, quality and presentation of milk and its byproducts.
(6) To establish systems of delivery by producers and processors and of receipt by processors and other handlers of milk and its byproducts.
(7) To prevent monopoly and unfair competition practices, as well as discriminations in the diverse phases of the industry, from production up to the sale of milk and its byproducts to the consumer.
(8) To set requirements for the issuance and renewal of licenses, as well as the reasons for suspension or cancellation thereof, as elsewhere provided in such sections.
(9) To investigate the business dealings and relationship of producers, processors, sterilizers and retailers among themselves, as well as those between any one of them and the consumers.
(10) To hold public hearings as required by such sections and as he may deem necessary for the effectuation of the public policy and the purposes of such sections.
(11) To require of persons operating businesses within the milk industry and its byproducts to keep such records and histories and forms and to render such reports as the Administrator may consider necessary to effectuate the public policy and the purposes of such sections.
(12) To establish systems or methods of payment or liquidation to producers. To this end, the Administrator is authorized to differentiate as between regulations on the basis of distances between production areas and the location of the plants processing the milk produced.
(13) To prepare statistics and divulge all useful information with respect to the operation and development of the milk industry and its byproducts.
(14) Ensure that the maximum and minimum prices fixed for liquid milk and the maximum prices of its byproducts at all levels of distribution are implemented and enforced.
(c) In the exercise of the powers granted in this section and in the other provisions of §§ 1092—1118 of this title, the Administrator is expressly authorized to take all pertinent measures to enforce the provisions of said sections.
History —June 11, 1957, No. 34, p. 67, § 5; Dec. 14, 2007, No. 209, § 2; Nov. 17, 2015, No. 187, § 19.