2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE THREE - Executive (§§ 1 — 9311) › Chapter 75 - Uniform Administrative Procedure (§§ 2101 — 2201) › Subchapter II - Procedure for Regulation (§§ 2121 — 2143) › § 2128 - Rule or regulation—New regulations; filing

(a) All regulations approved by any agency of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico shall be submitted to the Department of State in Spanish, with its translation into English, if the same were presented simultaneously, in an original and three (3) copies. Once the regulations are received at the Department of State, said agency shall be responsible [for] submitting a copy of the same to the Legislative Library of the Office of Legislative Services. The Director of the Office of Legislative Services shall provide, through regulations, the format for filing the documents and the means of doing so, which could be as hard copy or through any electronic means. As a general rule, the regulations shall take effect thirty (30) days after they have been filed, unless:
(1) Otherwise authorized by the enabling legislation, in which case the date provided in the statute shall apply;
(2) the agency establishes an earlier effective date as part of the regulation if authorized by the enabling legislation, or
(3) the regulation is an emergency regulation as provided in § 2133 of this title.
(b) The agency may file, jointly or subsequently, an English translation of the regulation. In instances where the agency files an English translation, this shall not affect the effective date of the regulation.
(c) The requirement to file regulations in Spanish, as established in subsection (a) of this section, may be waived by the Secretary with respect to technical national standards which have been incorporated in a regulation as long as the agency files a request for waiver, in writing, stating the difficulties involved in obtaining a Spanish translation owing to the technical content of the regulations. If the Secretary determines that the request is reasonable he shall authorize the waiver in writing and a copy of the authorization shall be attached to the regulation. In such cases the standards shall be filed in English and shall be accompanied by the regulations and copies thereof in Spanish.
(d) The Secretary shall publish in two (2) newspapers of general circulation a summary of each filed regulation, including its number, effective date and the agency that approved it. The regulation shall be published within twenty-five (25) days after the date it was filed.
(e) In every case in which a citizen, an agency, including in addition to those listed in § 2102(a) of this title those of the Legislative and Judicial Branches, a partnership, a corporation or any other judicial person shall request, and adequately justify to the Secretary the necessity for, an English translation of any regulation or part of or amendment to a regulation, said official shall provide that the agency concerned shall prepare a translation and file it in the Office of the Secretary within the period he specifies, subject to the provisions of §§ 2129—2132 of this title.
History —Aug. 12, 1988, No. 170, § 2.8; Aug. 5, 1989, No. 43, § 2; Nov. 30, 1990, No. 18, § 6; Aug. 25, 2000, No. 205, § 1; Sept. 22, 2001, No. 133, § 1; Dec. 12, 2005, No. 149, § 1.