P.R. Laws tit. 24, § 15010
(a) Notice and revision of determination. — Before excluding or removing a tobacco products manufacturer and any of its family of brands of cigarettes from the official list described in § 15006(b) of this title, the Secretary of the Treasury shall notify the manufacturer of his/her determination. The manufacturer or the affected party may appeal against the notice of the Secretary, by filing a complaint before the Office of the Secretary of Adjudicative Procedure of the Department pursuant to the provisions of §§ 2101 et seq. of Title 3, known as the “Administrative Procedures Act of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico”. Said complaint must be filed within the thirty (30) days following the date of notice of the determination of the Secretary to such effects.
(b) License applicants. — No license shall be issued to any person under § 9056 of Title 13, known as the “Puerto Rico Internal Revenue Code of 1994”, or be granted a license renewal to act as distributor unless said person has certified in writing, under penalty of perjury, that said person shall fully comply with the provisions of this chapter.
(c) Dates. — The first report of the distributors required by Section § 15008(a) of this title for the year 2003, if the date of effectiveness of this act is later than August 1, 2003, must be submitted thirty (30) calendar days after said effective date; the certifications from tobacco products manufacturers described in § 15006(a) of this title must be submitted forty-five (45) calendar days after said effective date; and the official list described in § 15006(b) of this title shall be published or be available within ninety (90) calendar days after said effective date.
(d) Promulgation of the regulations. — The Secretary of the Treasury may promulgate the regulations needed to achieve the purposes of this chapter.
(e) Recovery of costs and fees by the Secretary of Justice. — For any action initiated by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to execute this chapter, the Government shall be entitled to recover the costs of the investigation, except for the fees for witnesses, the costs of the action and reasonable attorney’s fees.
(f) Return of earnings for violations of this chapter. — If a court determines that a person has violated this chapter, the court may order that any profits, earnings, gross income or other benefits obtained from said violation shall be returned and paid to the Secretary of the Treasury to be deposited in the Tobacco Control Special Fund, herein created. Unless otherwise provided the remedies and penalties provided in this chapter are cumulative among themselves and to the remedies or penalties provided under all other laws of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(g) Construction and severability. — If a court with competent jurisdiction determines that the provisions of this chapter and 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”, are in conflict and cannot be harmonized, then the provisions of Act No. 453 shall prevail. If any section, subsection, paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase of this chapter has the effect of preventing Act No. 401 of September 9, 2000 from constituting a qualified model statute, as said term as defined in the Master Settlement Agreement, then that portion of this chapter shall not be valid. If it is determined that any section, subsection, paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase of this chapter is invalid, illegal or unconstitutional, said determination shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of this chapter, or any part thereof.
History —Sept. 15, 2004, No. 305, § 7.