2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE NINE - Highways and Traffic (§§ 1-8 — 5725) › Chapter 2 - Uniform Signs and Advertisment Act of Puerto Rico of 1999 (§§ 51 — 56g) › Subchapter IV - Permits for Signs and Advertisements (§§ 54 — 54b) › § 54 - Requisites

(a) After the effective date of this act, no sign or advertisement shall be installed without having the corresponding permit issued by ARPE.
(b) ARPE shall collect a non-refundable fee of twenty-five dollars ($25) for each permit requested for the installation of a sign, and fifty dollars ($50) for the installation of an advertisement. If the permit is approved, the service fees shall be collected, pursuant to the Regulations for the Collection of Services of the Regulations and Permits Administration.
(c) Upon issuing the permit, ARPE shall also issue a registration sticker, which shall be affixed on the lower right-hand side of the sign or advertisement.
(d) Annually, ARPE shall issue a new registration sticker for each sign or advertisement to which a permit has been granted. ARPE shall grant a prepayment discount, which shall not exceed ten percent (10%) per prepaid year, up to a maximum of three (3) years. Every five (5) years, after the date the sign or advertisement permit is issued, the request for renewal shall include a certification by an engineer or architect stating that the sign or advertisement is in good condition and maintains its structural safety.
(e) Each year and no less than thirty (30) days prior to the expiration date of the registration sticker, ARPE shall send a renewal notice to the owner of the sign or advertisement, to whom a permit had been issued and appears registered under the Puerto Rico Registry of Signs and Advertisements. The owner of the sign or advertisement may pay the renewal fee at any of ARPE regional offices. Every sign operator is required to keep a current mailing address with ARPE, and shall be responsible for the consequences of not receiving on time the renewal notice sent to the address ARPE has on file in case he/she failed to notify any change of address.
(f) In the case the owner of the sign or advertisement, to whom a permit had been issued, fails to renew it within the term provided herein, he/she shall have to pay a penalty of one hundred dollars ($100) on the date he/she renews the permit if it is less than one (1) year after its expiration date; and a penalty of two hundred dollars ($200) if it is more than one (1) year from its expiration date. If the registration sticker is not renewed for any sign or advertisement, the same shall considered as a sign or advertisement without a permit and it shall be subject to the provisions of this chapter for such cases. This penalty does not exclude those penalties of the use of signs or advertisements without a permit established in the Regulations for Administrative Fines of the Regulations and Permits Administration.
(g) When a sign or advertisement is removed or destroyed, the person shall file with ARPE a sworn statement to that effect, thirty (30) days prior to the permit’s renewal date; otherwise, he/she shall continue paying the renewal fee. ARPE may relieve the compliance of this requisite due to a just cause.
(h) ARPE shall have a maximum term of forty-five (45) days to approve or deny the installation permit application for a sign or advertisement; [Provided], That, in case the agency does not proceed within the established term, the permit application shall be understood to be approved, for what a permit shall be issued along with its corresponding registration sticker. In those cases where a variation and/or construction permit application is filed, the term shall be extended to sixty (60) days.
History —Dec. 22, 1999, No. 355, § 23, eff. 60 days after Dec. 22, 1999.