2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE THIRTEEN - Taxation and Finance (§§ 1 — 33423) › Subtitle 17 - Internal Revenue Code of 2011 (§§ 30001 — 33423) › PART VI - Taxes on Alcoholic Beverages (§§ 32401 — 32570) › Chapter 1053 - Production, Import and Introductions of Spirits and Alcoholic Beverages (§§ 32471 — 32507) › Subchapter A - Industrial Plants (§§ 32471 — 32484) › § 32483 - Puerto Rican rum

(a) Any rum that states on its label the phrase “Ron de Puerto Rico” or “Rum of Puerto Rico” must be manufactured and aged for a minimum of twelve (12) months in Puerto Rico, and meet the rum requirements established in this part as well as the quality requirements established by the Secretary through regulations to such effect.
(b) Any rum to be shipped or exported from Puerto Rico shall be manufactured and aged in Puerto Rico, and shall meet the rum requirements established in this part and the quality requirements established by the Secretary through regulations to such effect. Distilled spirits shall not be aged less than twelve (12) months when removed from the bonded warehouse where they are aged.
(c) The casks used to age spirits shall be of the type traditionally used by strong alcoholic beverage industries for the aging of their products and shall have a capacity of at least forty (40) wine gallons, but not more than one hundred and fifty (150) wine gallons. At the time the aging process begins, or after the spirits have been reprocessed for aging, the casks shall be filled to a volume of not less than forty (40) wine gallons. In determining the age of a mixture of spirits, the age of the youngest spirits used in the mix shall govern the total mixture and said age shall be credited to the processed rums that are re-aged. In order to specify the age of the spirits on the labels of the containers, they shall have to be manufactured and aged in Puerto Rico.
(d) The Secretary is empowered to eliminate the twelve (12)-month aging requirement established above, when he/she is furnished, to his/her satisfaction, with a legally enforceable commitment by the rum buyer to the effect that he/she shall not identify said rum or allow said rum to be identified in any way as “Ron de Puerto Rico” or “Puerto Rican Rum”. However, in those cases when the Secretary authorizes the elimination of the twelve (12)-month aging requirement, the Secretary is hereby empowered to require, at his/her discretion, the use of a seal or other designation of origin indicating that such product was made in Puerto Rico when, in the judgment of the Secretary, and upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Economic Development and Commerce, the use of said seal or designation of origin is in the best social and financial interests of Puerto Rico.
(e) In the event that the legal commitment stated above is violated in any way, the producing entity shall file an injunction with the proper forum to stop said violation immediately; the producing entity shall be subject to the penalties provided in Subtitle F; and the producing entity shall reserve its obligation in the buyer’s contract to collect all the remaining inventory of the rum that is unduly identified as “Puerto Rican Rum” for its immediate destruction.
History —Jan. 31, 2011, No. 1, § 5031.13, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2011; Dec. 16, 2011, No. 248, § 1.