2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-THREE - Public Planning and Development (§§ 1 — 11273) › PART III - Economic Stabilization (§§ 701 — 1155) › Chapter 67 - Control of Producers, Refiners and Wholesale Distributors of Gasoline (§§ 1101 — 1135) › Subchapter II - Regulation and Control of Gasoline Industry (§§ 1131 — 1135) › § 1133 - Obligations, responsibilities and prohibitions

In order to carry out the purposes of §§ 1131—1135 of this title, the following obligations and responsibilities are established without limiting the inherent powers that belong to the government agencies indicated herein; and the following prohibitions are established:
(a) By §§ 1131—1135 of this title, in the relationship between wholesaler-distributors and retailers, the simultaneous lease and sublease contracts between the same parties that are subject to “lease and lease-back” contracts are prohibited when said relationship has the effect or purpose of cancelling the obligation between the parties to pay, or unreasonably restricting the right to free contracting or disposal of property.
(b) It shall be the obligation of every wholesaler-distributor to file a legible copy of any contract that establishes a commercial relationship with retailers, within the ten (10) days following its formulation, as well as any amendment or subsequent modification thereto, at the Office of Monopolistic Affairs of the Department of Justice. Within thirty (30) days following the date of approval of this act, all wholesaler-distributors shall file in said office a legible copy of any contract that establishes a commercial relationship with retailers that was in force on the date of approval of this act.
(c) The Special Board created by §§ 257—274 of Title 10 shall prescribe, through regulations approved pursuant to applicable procedures, every contractual relationship between wholesaler-distributors and retailers which constitutes an unfair or fraudulent act in business or in trade, including, among others, those where:
(1) The complete contractual relationship which is being dealt with is not specified in simple and easily-understood language;
(2) specific and clearly-defined mechanisms for the payment of specific and itemized accounts are not established;
(3) the methods, schedules and amounts of delivery by the wholesaler-distributor are not established, and a penal clause applicable to unjustified delay in the deliveries is not provided;
(4) billing for more gasoline and/or special fuel than what corresponds to the volume delivered is allowed;
(5) the distributor-wholesaler is allowed to require the purchase of other products or articles not covered by the contractual relationship;
(6) the goodwill of the contracting parties is not defined and taken cognizance of;
(7) unreasonable bonds and/or insurance are demanded, or the rights, duties and obligations of the retailer on these bonds and/or insurance cannot be clearly determined.
(d) The Department of Commerce shall develop a plan of action for the benefit of the gasoline and/or special fuel retailers to minimize the impact of the changes in marketing patterns.
(e) The Department of Consumer Affairs shall provide, through regulations, the system that best allows a precise determination of the volume of gasoline and special fuels that are delivered to the retail sale establishments; likewise, it shall establish the method to maintain continuous supervision of the correct functioning of the system which, to such purpose, is established.
Said system shall be designed with the advice of the Energy Office and it shall take into consideration, among other factors, the expansion of those products caused by temperature changes, as well as losses caused by evaporation.
The Department of Consumer Affairs shall regulate the fixing of rental rates of businesses for the retail sale of gasoline and the rights and obligations between the parties, pursuant to the power to regulate conferred upon it by §§ 341—341v of Title 3.
(f) The Public Service Commission shall establish the rules and requirements applicable to the transportation of gasoline and special fuels, the handling and delivery of such, and the operation of oil pipelines or the delivery of said products by pipelines pursuant to the applicable laws, provided it is necessary and convenient to the public interest.
(g) The Planning Board shall establish and provide for the control of the development and use of lands destined for the construction of gasoline and/or special fuel retail sales service stations, with the purpose of avoiding their unreasonable proliferation within a geographic area.
(h) The Planning Board and/or the Regulations and Permits Administration shall require that every consultation regarding the location, or application for a permit for the construction or use for the establishment of a service station for the retail sale of gasoline, shall include a viability study showing the necessity and convenience of establishing the station, regardless of whether the area is zoned or not zoned or of zoned classification that could correspond thereto.
Such viability survey shall include, among other aspects, the density of population, and traffic flow in the area, similar businesses within an area of one thousand six hundred (1,600) radial meters, the anticipated impact of the new station over those of a similar nature within such perimeter, and any other aspect required by regulations.
In all these cases, the requested location or permit may only be granted, after holding public hearings pursuant to the applicable provisions of the laws or regulations, and after notice to the Office of Energy, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Consumer Affairs, the Department of Justice and the retail distributors who own or lease the gasoline stations included within the perimeter previously established through the viability study, the retailers operating such service stations, the existing gasoline retailers associations and any other affected or interested party as provided by regulations or arising from the corresponding files.
The granting of locations or permits shall be made in consultation with and upon the prior recommendation of the Department of Commerce.
History —June 23, 1978, No. 73, p. 244, § 4; July 20, 1979, No. 156, p. 401, § 1; June 18, 1980, No. 154, p. 688.