2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE THREE - Executive (§§ 1 — 9311) › Chapter 65A - Puerto Rico Government Ethics Act of 2011 (§§ 1854 — 1860b) › Subchapter IV - Code of Ethics for Public Servants and Former Public Servants in the Executive Branch; Provisions Applicable to Public Servants and Former Public Servants in the Judicial and Legislative Branches (§§ 1857 — 1857g) › § 1857e - Restrictions to actions by former public servants

(a) No former public servant shall provide information, intervene, cooperate, advise in any way or represent in any capacity, either directly or indirectly, a private person, business or public entity, in official actions or matters in which he/she intervened while working as a public servant.
(b) No former public servant shall, during the two (2) years following the date of termination of his/her employment with the government, provide information, intervene, cooperate, advise in any way or represent directly or indirectly a private person, business or public entity before the agency for which he/she worked.
(c) No former public servant shall, during the year following the date of termination of his/her employment with the government, hold an office, have monetary interest, or contract, directly or indirectly, with an agency, private person, or business, over which he/she has taken an official action during the year preceding the termination of his/her employment. Intergovernmental contracts shall be excluded from this prohibition. Municipal governments shall also be excluded from the scope of this rule; therefore, a municipal government may hire, on a part-time basis, former public servants retired from said municipality; provided, that they have ceased their functions upon retirement by reason of age or years of service, without being subject to the terms provided in this chapter.
This prohibition shall not apply to former public servants who wish to return to the nongovernmental sector; provided, that his official actions have not favored the entity where he intends to hold office, in which he has a monetary interest or with which he contracts. In order for this exception to be valid, the Executive Director shall evaluate the situation before the former public servant takes office, holds monetary interest or executes the contract.
(d) The appointing authority shall not enter into a professional service contract for the benefit of a former public servant of his/her agency, until two (2) years have elapsed since the date of termination of his/her employment.
This prohibition shall not apply to ad honorem professional service contracts. It shall neither apply when, at the discretion of the Executive Director, there are special circumstances that have been evaluated before executing such contract. Furthermore, this prohibition shall not affect municipal governments, which are excluded from the scope of this rule; therefore, a municipal government may hire former public servants retired from said municipality, at any time; provided, that such employees are hired on a part-time basis and have ceased their functions upon retirement by reason of age or years of service, without being subject to the terms provided in this chapter.
If there are special circumstances and the Executive Director authorizes the contracting of a former public servant within two years following the date of termination of his/her employment, the professional service contract shall not establish compensation higher than that earned for carrying out the same duties when he/she was a public servant.
No former public servant may use confidential or privileged information obtained while discharging the duties of his/her office for his/her own enrichment or the enrichment of a third party. It shall be understood that there has been enrichment not only when wealth has increased with money or property, but also when the liabilities affecting the person have been cancelled or extinguished.
(e) No former public servant may use confidential or privileged information obtained while discharging the duties of his/her office for his/her own enrichment or the enrichment of a third party. It shall be understood that there has been enrichment not only when wealth has increased with money or property, but also when the liabilities affecting the person have been cancelled or extinguished.
History —Jan. 3, 2012, No. 1, § 4.6; Nov. 20, 2013, No. 135, § 1.