2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-THREE - Public Planning and Development (§§ 1 — 11273) › PART III - Economic Stabilization (§§ 701 — 1155) › Chapter 67 - Control of Producers, Refiners and Wholesale Distributors of Gasoline (§§ 1101 — 1135) › Subchapter I - New Gasoline Stations (§§ 1101 — 1110) › § 1101 - Definitions

For the purposes of this subchapter, the following terms and phrases shall have the meaning expressed hereinbelow:
(a) Gasoline. — Shall mean and include, gasoline, benzine, naphtha or any fluid prepared, advertised, offered for sale, sold to be used for, or used for the generation of power or energy needed for the propulsion of motor vehicles, including any product obtained by mixing one (1) or more products derived from petroleum or natural gas or from any other source, if the resulting product can be given the same use.
(b) Special fuels. — Shall mean and include diesel oil, kerosene and oils or fluids used in diesel engines or internal combustion engines for the propulsion of motor vehicles, including any product obtained by mixing or combining one (1) or more petroleum products or any others, if the resulting product can be given the same use.
(c) Petroleum producer. — Shall mean any natural or juridical person that directly or indirectly carries out or develops activities for the extraction of petroleum or natural gas from the earth, or that produces gasoline or special fuel by any method, in or outside of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(d) Petroleum refiner. — Shall mean any natural or juridical person that directly or indirectly carries out or develops the refining of petroleum, petroleum products, natural gas, or its derived products, in or outside of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(e) Retail sales service station. — Shall mean and include any business where a natural or juridical person sells gasoline and/or special fuel for motor vehicles which are delivered by depositing them inside the tanks of said motor vehicles.
(f) Wholesaler-Distributors. — Shall mean any natural or juridical person that carries out the sale and/or distribution of special fuel, or any corporation, entity or company that is engaged in the retail sale of gasoline and/or special fuel, and in which any producer, refiner or wholesaler-distributor, as previously defined in this subsection, is a stockholder or has any other type of economic interest.
(g) Retailer. — Any natural or juridical person that operates a retail sales service station.
(h) Equipment. — Shall mean everything that is affixed to the property which is essential and indispensable in the operation of a retail sales service station; machinery, tools, instruments and any other personal property used by the retailer in the operation of said station, or any other property that may be used in relation to business or other activities, as long as they are provided, directly or indirectly, by a petroleum producer or refiner, or a wholesaler-distributor.
(i) Uniform or uniformly. — Shall mean that in the fixing, adjudicating, offering and/or granting of prices, discounts, rents and/or concessions, these shall be equal for all retailers within the same category for a service of equal nature or cost. Uniformity shall not be required when the specific situation is such that the oil producer, refiner or wholesaler-distributor is obligated to match an offer made by a competitor of its same operational level to one of its customers.
(j) Detachment of operations. — Occurs when refiner, oil producer or wholesaler-distributor ceases to participate directly in the operations and/or trading activities of the retail sale of gasoline and other special fuels in retail sales service stations.
(k) Category. — Shall mean that all retailers under the banner of the same trademark constitute one same category and that all independent retailers constitute another category. A retailer under a particular banner is one that has entered into an exclusivity contract with a wholesaler-distributor and sells gasoline under the trademark of that distributor at a bannered or trademarked gasoline service station. The independent retailer is one that buys gasoline from a wholesaler-distributor, from an independent distributor or from any supplier and that does not have an exclusivity contract with a wholesaler-distributor, and thus does not sell the gasoline under the trademark of a wholesaler-distributor.
History —Mar. 21, 1978, No. 3, p. 15, § 1; Aug. 21, 1996, No. 157, § 1; Aug. 25, 2005, No. 74, § 1.