(a) Reports from the distributors. — Not later than twenty (20) calendar days after the conclusion of every calendar quarter, and more often if so required by the Secretary of the Treasury, every distributor shall submit that information required by the Secretary of the Treasury to ensure compliance with this chapter, including, but not limited to, a list of the total number of boxes, cartons or packs of cigarettes sold, by family of brands, on which the distributor fixed the label required by the Department of the Treasury in § 9009(b) of Title 13, known as the “Puerto Rico Internal Revenue Code of 1994”, during the prior calendar quarter of the payment of excise taxes made by said cigarettes. The distributor shall maintain, and make available to the Secretary of the Treasury all invoices and sales documents of all the cigarettes of the non-participating manufacturers and any other information that supports the reports submitted to the Secretary of the Treasury during a period of five (5) years.
(b) Information to be disclosed. — The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to disclose to the Secretary of Justice any information received under this chapter and requested by the Secretary of Justice for the purpose of determining compliance with and execution of the provisions of this chapter. The Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Justice shall share the information received under this chapter and may share said information with other federal, Commonwealth or local agencies only for the purpose of executing this chapter, Act No. 401 of September 9, 2000, known as the “Act to Regulate the Tobacco Products Manufacturers Liability to the Government of Puerto Rico”, and Act No. 453 of December 28, 2000, as amended and the corresponding laws of other states of the United States.
(c) Verification of a qualified escrow fund. — The Secretary of the Treasury may require at any time from a non-participating manufacturer evidence of the financial/banking institution in which the manufacturer has established a qualified escrow Fund for the purposes of complying with the provisions of Act No. 401 of September 9, 2000, better known as the “Act to Regulate the Tobacco Products Manufacturers Liability to the Government of Puerto Rico”, and Act No. 453 of December 28, 2000, as to the amount of monies in said fund, excluding the interest, the amount and date of each deposit to said fund and the amount and date of each withdrawal from said fund.
(d) Application for additional information. — Besides the information that must be submitted pursuant to § 15007 of this title, the Secretary of the Treasury may require that any tobacco products manufacturer or distributor submit any additional information including, but not limited to, samples of the packaging or labeling of every family of brands, as may be necessary to allow the Secretary of the Treasury to determine whether a tobacco products manufacturer is in compliance with this chapter.
(e) Payments to the escrow account (quarterly). — To promote compliance with this chapter, the Secretary of the Treasury may promulgate regulations that require that a tobacco products manufacturer, subject to the requirements of § 15006(a)(2) of this title, make the deposits to the escrow account required in (quarterly) payments during the year in which the sales covered by said deposits were made. The Secretary of the Treasury may require the production of enough information to permit making a determination as to the sufficiency of the amount of the payment deposited.
History —Sept. 15, 2004, No. 305, § 5.