2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE FIVE - Agriculture (§§ 1 — 4706) › Chapter 27 - Prevention of Plant Diseases (§§ 581 — 613o) › § 613d - Authorization to inspect

The Secretary or his authorized representative is hereby empowered to:
(a) Stop and inspect, provided he is identified as such and without need of an order of inspection, any person or means of transportation or freight arriving at Puerto Rico from any place abroad, or moving within Puerto Rico, and any plant, plant product, goods or material transported or carried by such person or means of transportation or freight, provided that in the judgment of the Secretary or of his representative there is probable cause to believe that said person or means of transportation or freight carries any insect dead or alive or plant pest in violation of §§ 613—613n of this title or of any regulation prescribed hereunder, or that such means of transportation or freight, plant, plant product, goods or material is infested or infected or contains any plant pest or is being introduced or moved in violation of §§ 613—613n of this title or of any regulation or quarantine promulgated hereunder.
(b) Require the presentation for inspection of waybills, declarations, invoices, bills of lading, bills of goods, or any other documents relative to said plants, plant products, goods or materials arriving at Puerto Rico from any place abroad or moving within Puerto Rico, for the purpose of ascertaining that §§ 613—613n of this title or any regulation or quarantine promulgated hereunder be complied with. It shall be mandatory for the person in charge of such documents to make them accessible to the inspectors for the purpose above-mentioned.
(c) Open any luggage, bundle, container or package which contains or may contain plants, plant products, goods or matters capable of carrying or propagating plant pests, so as to make inspections and confiscate the goods or matter harboring plant pests.
(d) Enter, with the consent of the owner or keeper, or through an order of inspection to the effect, any place to make inspections of plants, plant products, goods or matter capable of carrying or propagating plant pests, and to confiscate any goods or matter harboring plant pests.
(e) Supervise or cause to be supervised, the treatment, cutting and destruction of plants and plant products or vegetative material for propagation whenever necessary to prevent or control the propagation of plant pests or to eradicate said pests.
(f) Inspect or cause to be inspected, as frequently as may be necessary, all establishments or nurseries for propagation in Puerto Rico.
(g) Require any person in possession of plants, plant products or other things capable of harboring or carrying plant pests to furnish complete information as to the origin and source of such matters; Provided, That if such person refuses to furnish the information, he having the capacity to do so, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor; and, Provided, further, That said information shall not be used to charge such person with any offense or to prove same.
(h) Intercept and inspect any plants, plant products or goods or matter that may harbor or carry plant pests which are or have been introduced, transported or moved into Puerto Rico coming from any state, territory or district of the United States, or from any other country, while they are in the ship that has brought them to Puerto Rico or in transit in any vehicle in Puerto Rico, or after their arrival at the point of destination in Puerto Rico. If after inspection, such plants, plant products, goods or matter are found infested or infected with any plant pest, or if it is determined that such material may propagate or transmit such pest, or that it has been or is being transported in violation of any quarantine or regulation promulgated by the Secretary, such plants, plant products, goods or matter may be submitted to treatment, if advisable to do so, and afterward their disposal authorized, or they may be returned to the sender, or may be destroyed.
History —June 5, 1973, No. 93, p. 397, § 5; June 22, 1975, No. 51, p. 117, § 1.