2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-THREE - Public Planning and Development (§§ 1 — 11273) › PART I - Public Planning (§§ 1 — 229ccc) › Chapter 1 - Miscellaneous Provisions (§§ 1 — 61a) › § 43-2 - Regulations—Companion-assisted or family restrooms

(1) The Permit Management Office (PMO) is hereby directed to incorporate into the Puerto Rico Building Code to be provided prospectively that enclosed shopping malls with retail space greater than one hundred thousand (100,000) square feet; ports and airports with four gates or more; government centers and convention centers; sports stadiums and courts with capacity for seven thousand (7,000) people or more, and public beaches shall establish companion-assisted restrooms or family restrooms. For the purposes of the regulations to be adopted, the term “companion-assisted or family restrooms” shall mean restroom facilities equipped to be used by people of both sexes, by one or more persons with disabilities, elderly persons or children who need the assistance of another person or a relative when using restroom facilities.
(2) Every Commonwealth and municipal government center offering services to the public shall be subject to the provisions of this chapter prospectively. In the case of existing Commonwealth and municipal government centers, any necessary and pertinent measures shall be taken to establish companion-assisted or family restrooms, subject to the availability of their resources.
(3) The Luis Muñoz-Marín Airport in all its terminals, the Mercedita Airport in Ponce, the Rafael Hernández Airport in Aguadilla, the Eugenio Mara de Hostos Airport in Mayagez, and the Ports of San Juan, Catao, Fajardo, Vieques, and Culebra shall be subject to the provisions of this chapter prospectively. Those airports and ports not mentioned herein shall be excluded from the application of the provisions of this chapter. The preceding notwithstanding, any terminal to be built in any airport with four (4) gates or more, in which restroom facilities are to be built, extended or modified by fifty percent (50%) or more based on its total area, shall comply with the provisions of this chapter.
(4) Any public or private facility that meets the characteristics set forth in subsection (1) of this section, shall install one companion-assisted or family restroom for every two men’s and women’s restrooms with six or more stalls as provided in this chapter. Such restrooms shall comply with any federal or Commonwealth law or regulation that provide for easy access and convenience for persons with physical disabilities, especially with the provisions in effect of the American with Disabilities Act and the American with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines.
(5) Any public or private facility described in subsection (1) of this section, the structure of which is rebuilt, extended or modified fifty percent (50%) or more based on its total area shall establish family restroom facilities, as required under this chapter, after the approval of the amendments to the Puerto Rico Building Code to be approved by PMO pursuant to this chapter. This chapter shall only apply to the area of the building to be rebuilt, extended or modified, and not to the entire building.
(6) Any public or private facility that meets the characteristics set forth in subsection (1) of this section, which is built after the approval of the amendments to the Puerto Rico Building Code to be approved by PMO pursuant to this chapter, shall establish family restroom facilities for every two men’s and women’s restrooms with six (6) or more stalls.
(7) All strip centers existing before the approval of this act shall be expressly excluded from the application of this chapter. However, any strip center in which restroom facilities are to be built, extended or modified fifty percent (50%) or more based on its total area, shall comply with the provisions of this chapter.
(8) The Permit Management Office shall be empowered to make any amendment that it deems necessary to the Puerto Rico Building Code in effect in order to comply with the provisions of this chapter, as well as to create any forms that are necessary for the implementation of the provisions of this act within six (6) months following the approval thereof, pursuant to the provisions of §§ 2101 et seq. of Title 3, known as the “Uniform Administrative Procedure of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico”.
History —May 4, 1949, No. 168, p. 530, added as § 1(B) on Aug. 17, 2011, No. 186, § 1.