2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE THREE - Executive (§§ 1 — 9311) › Chapter 16 - Department of Consumer Affairs (§§ 341 — 341w) › § 341g - Rules, regulations, orders, resolutions and determinations

(a) The Secretary shall have the power to approve, amend or revoke those rules, regulations, orders, resolutions and determinations needed for compliance of this chapter. The rules and regulations which are not of an internal nature, shall be promulgated in accordance with the provisions of §§ 2101 et seq. of this title, known as the “Uniform Administrative Procedures Act of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico”; Provided, That the orders and regulations promulgated in accordance with subsection (a) of § 341e of this title [and/or §§ 731—745 of Title 23], shall take effect immediately after being filed in the Office of the Secretary of State.
For the adoption of rules and regulations which are not of an internal nature, the Secretary shall hold public hearings after publishing a notice in at least one of the newspapers of greater circulation largest publication in Puerto Rico, indicating the date, place and nature of said hearing. The publication shall be made at least fifteen (15) days prior to the hearing.
The preceding provisions of this subsection notwithstanding, the price orders issued on the basis of the regulations containing the criteria for said price fixing shall take effect on the same date they are published in one of the newspapers of greater circulation in Puerto Rico, unless a different date is specified in the text of the order published. In these cases it shall not be necessary to hold public hearings or to file said orders with the Department of State.
(b) When the Secretary determines that there is a situation that requires immediate action to avoid serious damages to consumers, the Secretary shall adopt any order or regulations pursuant to the provisions of § 2133 of this title, known as the “Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Uniform Administrative Procedures Act”.
(c) To establish and regulate the corresponding rates that private establishments engaged in caring for elderly persons who reside in them must charge, the Secretary of the Department of Consumer Affairs must study the biophysiological, sociological and psychological characteristics of elderly persons, actual demographic data and future projections and their service and support needs. The Secretary shall also utilize the following criteria, without it constituting a limitation:
(1) The location of the establishment.
(2) Physical facilities, such as equipment and materials.
(3) Privacy.
(4) Ambulance and transportation services.
(5) Personnel and its professional training and experience.
(6) Rehabilitation and recreation program.
(7) Access to support systems.
(8) Security systems.
(9) Feeding.
(10) Medical services, medical and dental care.
(11) The elderly’s degree of dependency, according to his/her state of health.
(12) Administrative matters.
(d) Every retail business or commercial enterprise with a sales volume of over four hundred thousand dollars ($400,000) per year, which is open to the public and sells consumer items and goods, including those businesses which use any type of electronic price scanner, must label the items for sale on the shelves or display cases or places where the merchandise is available to consumers, with signs or posters whose letters have a minimum size of twelve (12) points or one eighth ( 1 / 8 ) of an inch and the price whose numbers have a minimum size of forty-eigth points or one half ( 1 / 2 ) inch. The sign or poster must specify the trademark, the weight of the contents and the price of the item. The sign may contain abbreviations provided these are commonly used and easily distinguished and do not create possible confusion with other products. The sign must be placed within the space occupied by the items on the shelf, gondola or display case and in a place easily visible to the consumer.
When the sales volume of businesses devoted, among other things, to the retail of gasoline, has been determined, the sales volume of gasoline and of any other type of merchandise available to the consumer must be included. Businesses shall have the option of tagging the individual price of each article in Arabis numbers which are clearly legible so that the consumer can compare and be informed of the prices of the items selected. The refusal of the merchant to label the aforementioned items or to tag them individually, as provided in the preceding paragraph, entails a fine of five hundred dollars ($500) for the first day of the violation and of one thousand dollars ($500) for each additional day.
History —Apr. 23, 1973, No. 5, p. 15, § 8; June 26, 1974, No. 87, Part 1, p. 306, § 2; July 11, 1988, No. 69, p. 312, § 2; Aug. 4, 1997, No. 56, § 1; Sept. 17, 2004, No. 383, § 1.