2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-THREE - Public Planning and Development (§§ 1 — 11273) › PART VI - Tourism (§§ 6001 — 6982i) › Chapter 161 - Tourist Residences (§§ 6951 — 6951t) › § 6951a - Powers of the Secretary of the Department of Consumer Affairs

The Secretary shall have the following powers and authorities in the administration of the provisions of this chapter:
(a) To implement the provisions established through a regulation drafted and approved jointly with the Tourism Company and shall be able to establish additional requirements in such Regulation, insofar as the same are also approved by the Director of the Tourism Company and are not inconsistent with this chapter;
(b) To interpret the regulation according to the expertise of his/her agency, allowing the Company, through its Director, to express itself regarding issues related to its expertise if controversies arise with regards to this Act and its regulations; provided, however, that any interpretation shall be made according to the purposes sought by this chapter;
(c) To issue, deny, revoke, and renew a license to any person who wishes to act as a vacation home developer and make the pertinent investigations to determine whether the corresponding license should be issued, denied, renewed, or revoked;
(d) To carry out the investigations he/she deems pertinent in order to:
(1) Prevent undesirable practices in the business of developing, offering, and selling vacation home projects;
(2) prevent any negligent, intentional, or fraudulent action that may cause significant damage to the buyer of a Unit;
(3) determine if any person has failed to comply with the provisions of this chapter; and/or
(4) obtain any information that may be useful for the administration of any of the provisions of this chapter or its regulations;
(e) To ensure that reservation contracts, purchase agreements, and special escrow account agreements comply with the provisions of this chapter;
(f) To intervene in procedures aimed at the dissolution, bankruptcy, transfer, and/or changes of control over vacation home developers, in order to comply with the responsibilities imposed by this chapter;
(g) To investigate the operations, transactions, accounts, files, documents, lines of credit, and capital of all vacation home developers, and the directors, officers, or affiliates thereof, in order to determine whether the same comply with this chapter and/or its regulations;
(h) After notice and administrative hearing, to issue cease and desist orders and to prescribe the proper corrective terms and conditions according to the evidence available to him/her and the applicable laws. When, in his/her judgment, a violation of this chapter and/or its regulations causes or may cause immediate serious damage to the buyer or to any particular or potential buyer or buyers, he/she shall be able to issue provisional cease and desist orders, without the requirement of previously holding an administrative hearing, but holding such hearing within ten (10) days following the date of issue of the order, in order to resolve whether the provisional order becomes permanent or is revoked;
(i) To create forms related to the filings established in this chapter.
(j) To issue any other order or notice established or allowed under this chapter and/or its regulations.
(k) To impose fines for violations of this chapter and/or its regulations.
(l) To execute, together with the Tourism Company, cooperation and reciprocity agreements with the authorities of other jurisdictions, in order to harmonize vacation home unit offer and sales practices outside of Puerto Rico.
(m) To issue any other orders or notices established or allowed under this chapter and/or its regulations.
(n) To relieve from and/or adapt the application of effective regulations to achieve the purposes sought by this chapter.
(o) To coordinate with the Tourism Company any power, duty, authority, or function conferred to it by this Act or its regulations, so that the latter may exercise, comply, or perform in its stead.
(p) To adjudicate complaints filed with the DACO between buyers and vacation home developers related to construction defects, special escrow account agreements, reservation contracts, and purchase agreements.
History —Dec. 16, 2009, No. 181, § 4.