2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE NINE - Highways and Traffic (§§ 1-8 — 5725) › Chapter 2 - Uniform Signs and Advertisment Act of Puerto Rico of 1999 (§§ 51 — 56g) › Subchapter I - General Provisions (§§ 51 — 51l) › § 51h - Placement and location

(a) No sign or advertisement shall be installed obstructing a required exit, or interfering with the required ventilation or illumination of the building.
(b) No sign or advertisement shall be totally or partially extended over the margins of the frontage surface on which it is to be located. Only signs or advertisements of individual lettering may be affixed over the building’s roof, and with a frame fixed to its structural elements, pursuant to the provisions of the Puerto Rico Building Code in effect, as so certified by a licensed engineer or architect in a structural and design analysis carried out only on buildings with architectural and cultural value where it is necessary in order to preserve said value.
(c) Signs and advertisements installed on a building frontage adjacent to a sidewalk shall not invade nor project more than twelve inches (12′′) over the sidewalk. In those cases where the law permits a projection over the sidewalk of a canopy away from the building frontage, a canopy sign may be installed, as wide as the canopy and a maximum height of twelve inches (12′′). In both instances, they may be installed parallel or perpendicular to the sidewalk and observe a minimum clearance of eight (8) feet under the same.
(d) No sign or advertisements shall be installed on a property without the written consent of its owner, tenant, possessor or their authorized representative.
(e) Signs or advertisements installed on the ground of a property, be it parallel or perpendicular to a public road, may not invade nor project over the public road. The sign or advertisement shall be located totally within the lot’s boundaries.
(f) A sign or advertisement may be installed on any of the building frontages on a zoning district or non-zoning area provided that it complies with the requisites established for the zoning.
(g) In the cases of signs and advertisements or the combination of both, installed within the margins of the building frontage, but not totally affixed to the same, only those with individual lettering shall be permitted, not the panel ones, except for those wall signs or advertisements installed on a frame fixed or anchored on the building frontage, and shall not project more than twelve inches (12′′) over said frontage.
(h) In the case of signs and advertisements installed on the ground of corner lots, the maximum size and number shall be computed individually for those signs and advertisements oriented towards each public road.
(i) The structures where signs and structures are installed may have more than one (1) side; Provided, That in order to calculate the maximum size, as provided in this chapter, each side shall be calculated individually, and each side of the structure shall be considered as a separate sign or advertisement.
(j) The size of contiguous signs shall be considered when calculating the maximum size of a sign, and vice versa.
(k) Signs and advertisements not affixed over the roof of a structure, may project over the same.
(l) In agricultural lots facing the National Highway System, the billboards shall keep a minimum space between each of five hundred (500) feet. In non-agricultural lots, the spaces between billboards shall be as provided in this chapter for advertisements and as mandatory stated in applicable federal regulations.
History —Dec. 22, 1999, No. 355, § 12; Sept. 2, 2000, No. 336, § 4.