P.R. Laws tit. 18, § 444
(a) The Department of Education of Puerto Rico shall require all publishing houses that publish books to be used as part of the Department’s syllabus, to supply a copy of said material on a computer disk, in the American Standard Code for Information Interchange or ASCII format. Other than literary topics, the publisher shall supply, in this same format, materials for other subjects, such as science, mathematics, music, etc.
(b) The Department of Education shall appoint a committee to implement the provisions of this section. The committee shall consist of not more than nine (9) members who shall be appointed by the Secretary of Education. Among the members there shall be:
(1) A representative of the companies of computerized educational material.
(2) A representative of the manufacturers of books in Braille.
(3) An education specialist, specialized in the use of the Braille System.
(4) Two representatives of the Department of Education.
(5) A spokesperson for the consumers of Braille materials.
(6) A representative of parents of blind children.
(7) A representative of the teachers.
(c) The Secretary shall convene the initial meeting and the members shall choose their Directors. No salary shall be paid to the committee members for their activities.
(d) Materials development and production. — The Committee must:
(1) Work jointly with the textbook publishing houses so that these are translated into ASCII language, so that they can be reproduced in Braille.
(2) Stay current about computerized programs and applications in or outside of Puerto Rico which can improve the conversion of materials into the ASCII language.
(3) Work jointly with publishing houses and developers of computerized application programs for the design and preparation of new programs.
(e) The Department of Education, together with the Committee shall deliver an annual report to the Legislature with its findings and a summary of its activities.
History —Sept. 29, 2002, No. 240, § 6.