2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-SEVEN - Public Service (§§ 1 — 2641) › PART II - Communications (§§ 265 — 539) › Chapter 19 - Puerto Rico Telecommunications Act of 1996 (§§ 265 — 272) › Subchapter II - Regulatory Board (§§ 267 — 267j) › § 267j - Budget and regulation fees

(a) The Board shall impose and collect fees pursuant to the provisions of this section in order to produce sufficient income to:
(1) Cover the operating expenses of the Board in complying with its responsibilities under this chapter, and
(2) establish a reserve, that the Board deems reasonable, to ensure the continuous and efficient operation of the Board, in accordance with its projected goals and objectives, and the experience of previous years’ expenses. Said reserve shall not exceed twenty-five percent (25%) of the annual budget of the Board.
(b) The annual fee to defray the annual operating expenses of the Board shall be fixed proportionally on the basis of the gross income generated by each telecommunications or cable company which provides telecommunications services from the rendering of telecommunications services in Puerto Rico. In the case of the resale of services, the gross income shall not include the cost corresponding to the acquisition of the service subject to resale. These fees shall be paid to the Board on a quarterly basis, pursuant to the regulations promulgated by it.
(c) The fees to be imposed on a telecommunications or cable company which provides telecommunications services pursuant to subsection (b) of this section shall not exceed point twenty-five percent (.25%) of its annual gross income from the rendering of telecommunications services in Puerto Rico. Those telecommunications companies whose annual gross income in Puerto Rico is less than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) shall be exempted from the payment of said fees.
(d) The costs and fees paid by telecommunications and cable companies as provided in subsection (e) of this section shall be credited against the charge imposed on said companies in subsection (b) of this section. All telecommunications or cable companies shall submit the information required by the Board in the manner and on the forms that it determines in order for it to indicate the amount of the charges established in this section. The Board is not under the obligation to give prior notice nor opportunity of a hearing before imposing any charge.
(e) The Board can obligate a telecommunications or cable company to reimburse the fees, special expenses and other direct and incidental costs incurred for professional and consultation services in the course of investigations, hearings and other procedures conducted with respect to said companies.
(f) The telecommunications and cable companies shall liquidate the payment of the charges imposed within a period of not more than thirty (30) days after notice to such [effect]. Any delay in the payment of said charges shall be subject to the payment of interest and penalties determined by the Board through regulations. The payment of the charges shall be made in the manner and through the negotiable instruments that the Board specifies in any notice of charges.
(g) No telecommunications or cable company may request judicial review of any charge imposed by the Board unless:
(1) Said company has paid or posted bond to the satisfaction of the Board within the term established in subsection (f) of this section or that the Board has extended said term;
(2) simultaneously with said payment, posting of bond or petition for extension, said company has submitted a detailed justification explaining why it considers said payment to be excessive or illegal, and
(3) ninety (90) days have elapsed from the date of notice of the charges imposed.
No petition for judicial review may be based on arguments other than those alleged by the company before the Board. The Board shall not be bound to reimburse any portion of the charges if it certifies that said reimbursement would adversely affect the operations of the Board. If the Board issues said certification, then the telecommunications or cable company thus affected shall have the right to reduce the corresponding amount from the future charges imposed by the Board.
(h) The payments at present contributed for franchise fees by the cable companies to the Public Service Commission, pursuant to the last franchise granted by said Commission to the cable companies, shall be paid in full to the Board as of the effective date of this act.
(i) The Secretary of the Treasury shall cover into a special account denominated as the “Special Telecommunications Regulatory Board Fund” the moneys collected by virtue of this chapter, which may be used solely and exclusively to defray the operating expenses running costs of the Board, except that, for Fiscal Year 2000-2001, the sum of ten million dollars ($10,000,000) shall be transferred to the Budget Fund and the sum of five million dollars ($5,000,000) shall be transferred to the Puerto Rico Special Communities Socioeconomic Development Fund from the resources of this Special Telecommunications Regulatory Board Fund to establish telephone service in such communities. For Fiscal Year 2009-2010, the sum of seventeen million dollars ($17,000,000) shall be transferred from the same Special Fund to the Puerto Rico Culture and Arts and Sports and Recreation Collection Fund, for the promotion of culture, the arts, and sports and recreation in Puerto Rico in all their forms. During Fiscal Year 2010-2011, the sum of seven million dollars ($7,000,000) shall be transferred from this Special Fund to the Puerto Rico Culture and Arts and Sports and Recreation Collection Fund. Furthermore, during Fiscal Year 2011-2012, the sum of five million dollars ($5,000,000) shall be transferred from this Special Fund to the 2011-2012 Budget Support Fund.
(j) The operating expense budget of the Board shall be consigned separately from the General Budget of Expenses of the Government of Puerto Rico.
History —Sept. 12, 1996, No. 213, § II-11; Aug. 17, 2001, No. 124, § 1; July 29, 2009, No. 45, § 7; Aug. 1, 2010, No. 120, § 1; July 1, 2011, No. 110, § 1.