2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY - Examining Boards and Professional Colleges (§§ 1 — 6033) › Chapter 89 - Board of Examiners of Opticians (§§ 2751 — 2760) › § 2753 - Powers and duties

(a) The Board of Examiners of Opticians shall authorize the practice of the optical profession in Puerto Rico, it being empowered to issue the corresponding license to any person who shall meet the qualifications specified in this chapter.
(b) The Board shall keep a minute book of all its proceedings and shall organize its files so that all applications made be registered and shall enter in adequate books its decisions and actions.
(c) The Board shall keep an updated registry of all the licenses it issues in which shall be stated the full name and personal data of the optician to whom the license is being issued, the date of issue, the license number and its term of effectiveness and a marginal note regarding their professional recertifications, and the suspended, revoked or cancelled licenses. Said registry shall be reviewed by the Board annually.
(d) It shall prescribe rules and regulations for the internal administration of the Board, the holding of examinations for admission to the practice of the optical profession, and the establishing of the administrative procedure for the hearings to suspend or annul opticians’ licenses. Such rules and regulations shall be adopted after holding public hearings and shall take effect after being published in two (2) newspapers of general circulation and filed in the Department of State.
(e) They shall develop an information system which allows the establishment of a statistical relationship between the results of the revalidation examination and the characteristics of the candidates such as age, sex, school attended, number of times the revalidation examination has been taken and the academic index. In the aforesaid the applicants shall appear listed under the academic institution in which they studied.
(f) The Board shall establish through regulations the requirements and procedures for the recertification of opticians every three (3) years, based on continuing education pursuant to the requirements of §§ 3001 et seq. of Title 24. It shall also evaluate the evidence accrediting continuing education submitted by the opticians for their recertification.
(g) It shall adopt an official seal to be affixed on all licenses issued by it, and on other official Board documents.
(h) The Board shall have the power to refuse, suspend and revoke licenses for the practice of the profession of optician in Puerto Rico, pursuant to what is established in § 2757 of this title.
(i) It may hold administrative hearings, resolve controversies on matters under its jurisdiction, issue orders in keeping with its resolutions and agreements, issue subpoenas for the appearance of witnesses or interested parties; require the presentation of documentary evidence, take statements or oaths and receive the evidence that is submitted to it in every matter under its jurisdiction.
(j) It shall hold revalidation examinations in the Capital City of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico at least two (2) times a year, on the date determined by the Board.
All the regulatory, investigative and adjudicatory procedures that come before the Board, as well as the judicial review of the final decisions issued by it, shall be governed pursuant to what is established by §§ 2101 et seq. of Title 3, known as Uniform Administrative Procedures Act of Puerto Rico.
History —June 3, 1976, No. 152, p. 448, § 3; Sept. 1, 1990, No. 82, p. 484, § 3.