P.R. Laws tit. 5, § 1101
(a) No producer, processor, or sterilizer of milk or its byproducts may operate without a license issued therefor by the Administrator.
(b) The Administrator shall be under obligation to grant or renew licenses after finding that the applicant has complied with the laws and regulations applicable in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico relative to health and sanitation in milk production, processing, sterilizing, handling, and sale; and with all applicable provisions, in the proper case, of the law creating the Milk Industry Regulation Office and the regulations, orders or resolutions approved thereunder.
Any interested person shall apply for the issuance of the proper license within the thirty (30) days following the effectiveness of §§ 1092—1118 of this title. Persons lawfully operating businesses as of the date such sections take effect in any phase within the industry may continue to operate same in like manner while the application in each specific case is acted upon.
(c) The Administrator shall not refuse a license so applied for without first offering the applicant an opportunity to prove his qualifications at a public hearing before the Administrator or his agent, with full protection of his constitutional rights through due process of law.
The requirements mentioned in this section are equally applicable in the case of the possible suspension or cancellation of a license.
(d) The reviewing of a decision of the Administrator involving an application for issuance, renewal, suspension, or revocation of license shall be in accordance with the review procedure established in § 1107 of this title.
(e) Subject to the provisions of this section, it shall be unlawful for any producer, processor or sterilizer of milk or its byproducts to operate as such without the license herein required.
Any natural or juridical person committing such violation shall be subject to the penalties expressed in § 1114 of this title.
(f) The Administrator is hereby authorized provisionally to grant exemption from the license required, upon finding that such requirement is not then necessary for the purpose of effectuating the public policy of §§ 1092—1118 of this title. Such exemption shall be valid until subsequent finding that it is necessary to require the license in such case so as to effectuate the public policy and the purposes of §§ 1092-1118 of this title.
History —June 11, 1957, No. 34, p. 67, § 10.