2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE FIVE - Agriculture (§§ 1 — 4706) › Chapter 18 - Sugar Corporation—Transfer of Assets and Debts to Sugarcane Growers (§§ 430 — 430i) › § 430b - Additional restrictions

During the first twenty-five (25) years from the date of transfer, the assets of the Corporation and/or the Authority subject to the transfer approved by this chapter, shall only be used for the cultivation, production, marketing and sale of sugar cane and its byproducts. Said assets shall not be sold, transferred, ceded, or otherwise alienated, except in the event that the product of said sale, transfer, cession or alienation is reinvested in the operations of the enterprise(s). If the total product of said sale, transfer, cession or alienation is not reinvested in the operations of the enterprises, the total amount of said product shall be paid to the Authority until said payments reach a total of fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000). The limit of fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000) shall be reduced proportionally on each anniversary of the date of transfer in the amount of six hundred thousand dollars ($600,000) until totally eliminated on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the date of transfer, in which case the restriction regarding the use and transfer imposed by this chapter shall be rendered ineffective. Provided, That in the case of a partial sale or transfer or encumbrance of a particular asset or a specific group of assets, of which the total product is not reinvested in the operation of the enterprises, the payment to the Authority shall be the transfer price assigned to the transferred assets as agreed, less a twenty-fifth part thereof for each year elapsed after the transfer date. Notwithstanding the above, in no case shall the lands transferred by virtue of this chapter be used for any purpose other than the cultivation of sugarcane, the processing of sugar or the manufacture, marketing or sale of sugar byproducts. The real assets transferred by virtue of this chapter shall not be encumbered or transferred.
Should the assets transferred to the enterprises cease to be used for the cultivation of sugarcane, the processing of sugar or the manufacture, marketing or sale of sugar byproducts, said assets shall revert to the Corporation, or if the Corporation has been liquidated, to the Authority. In that event, if there have been improvements or buildings which cannot be removed from the land where they are located and that have been constructed with funds derived from liens on the assets and with the prior authorization of the Corporation and/or the Authority to benefit the operations of the enterprises, said improvements shall be paid to the enterprises according to their assessed value, less the value of the land where they are located and the indebted balance of the liens. If said improvements and buildings were constructed with other resources, the payment to the enterprises shall be the assessed valuation less the value of the land where they are located.
The restriction regarding the use and transfer imposed by this chapter shall be included in the contract or contracts whereby the assets of the Corporation and/or the Authority are transferred to the enterprises and, with regard to the real property to be transferred to the enterprises, it shall be registrable in the Property Registry of Puerto Rico.
History —Sept. 5, 1996, No. 189, § 4; Dec. 28, 1997, No. 202, § 3.