2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-SIX - Insurance (§§ 101 — 10377) › Subtitle 1 - Insurance Generally (§§ 101 — 4513) › Chapter 12 - Rates and Rating Organizations (§§ 1201 — 1240) › § 1202 - Scope of chapter

(1) Except as is otherwise expressly provided, the provisions of this chapter apply to all insurances upon subjects located, resident, or to be performed in Puerto Rico, except:
(a) Life insurance and annuity contracts.
(b) Disability insurance.
(c) Reinsurance, except as to joint insurance as provided in § 1234 of this title.
(d) Insurance against loss of or damage to aircraft, their hulls, accessories, and equipment, or against liability, other than workmen’s compensation and employer’s liability, arising out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of aircraft.
(e) Insurance of vessels or craft, their cargoes, marine builders’ risks, marine protection and indemnity; and other risks commonly insured under marine, as distinguished from inland marine insurance contracts.
(f) Surplus line insurance written under §§ 1001–1019 of this title.
(2) The Commissioner may from time to time make investigations with respect to classes of risks of the kind of insurance herein exempted, and may require any authorized insurer and rating organizations rating such risks within Puerto Rico to furnish information relative thereto.
(3) Insurance covering the risks of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, its dependencies, entities, corporations, authorities and municipalities.— Regarding this insurance, the Commissioner shall issue rules and regulations establishing the conditions and obligations which will best protect the public interest and likewise guarantee fair and reasonable treatment to the insurer, among which a rule shall be included so that any insurer or general agent who covers the Commonwealth’s risks shall be obliged to submit, within the ninety (90) days following the end of the calendar year, a detailed list of the losses paid and claims pending against the insurance policy or policies contracted. By means of these rules and regulations, the Commissioner may authorize the quotation of premiums that differ from those fixed by the Rates Manual, whenever he/she deems it is necessary or convenient.
Except where otherwise provided by law, the Secretary of the Treasury shall procure and contract insurance for the Commonwealth and its municipalities. He/she shall also procure and contract insurance for the public corporations and authorities of the Commonwealth, but the Governor may allow all, or any of said public corporations or public authorities to procure and contract any insurance directly, in the cases in which special circumstances or reasons may require it, upon the recommendation to such effects by the Commissioner, after said official has examined all the grounds adduced to justify such request, in detail, and the criteria and formalities that have prevailed in similar situations in the past. The contracting of the insurance mentioned above shall be put up for public bidding, except in those cases in which it is determined that the public bidding method is not the most appropriate for the best protection of the public interest. The Commissioner is hereby empowered to use the available resources in the Fund for the Administration and Regulation of the Insurance Industry, established by means of Act No. 66 of March 27, 1976, to appropriate to the Department of the Treasury a sum that shall not exceed four percent (4%) of the Office’s annual operating budget, to defray nonrecurrent expenses related to the administration of the provisions of this subsection.
The head of the corporation or authority who has obtained an authorization from the Governor to procure and contract for its insurance directly shall be obliged to provide and inform the following data to the Commissioner and the Secretary of the Treasury, immediately, with regard to each insurance policy that is in effect, or that is contracted as of the effective date of this act:
(a) Name and address of the insurer and name and address of the person designated in the policy to accept judicial summons and legal documents.
(b) Number of the policy issued.
(c) Date of issue and effectiveness of the policy.
(d) Nature and amount of the liability assumed by the insurer.
(e) Rate of premium charged.
(f) Total amount of premium.
(g) Method used in the selection of the insurer.
(h) Date of the report.
(i) Any other information that might be required by the Commissioner.
The Commissioner shall prescribe and furnish the corresponding forms for this report.
The repeated and unjustified failure to comply with the obligation to render the report required herein from the corporations and authorities shall cause the Governor of Puerto Rico, by request of the Commissioner, or on his own initiative, to revoke the authorization granted by virtue of this paragraph.
In reinsurance cases, the Secretary or the head of those corporations and authorities authorized to procure their insurance directly, pursuant to this paragraph, shall be compelled to procure and obtain the information listed in § 413 of this title.
The Secretary of the Treasury shall pay the premiums on this insurance from the general fund of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The corporations, authorities and municipalities shall reimburse the amounts corresponding to the premiums for their insurance to the general fund of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. In the case of the municipalities, the Secretary of the Treasury shall withhold the amount of their premiums from the property taxes collected for each municipality.
The personnel needed by the Secretary of the Treasury for the administration of this provision shall not be subject to the “Personnel Act”.
History —Ins. Code § 12.020; May 23, 1984, No. 20, p. 42; June 29, 1996, No. 62, § 12.