P.R. Laws tit. 9, § 5685
With regard to administrative traffic fines, the rules below shall be followed:
(a) Law enforcement officers are hereby empowered to issue tickets for any administrative traffic faults. The form for such tickets shall be prepared, printed, individually identified and distributed according to the regulations promulgated by the Secretary for such a purpose. Said officers shall date and sign the tickets, which shall state the administrative traffic fault or faults allegedly committed and the amount of the administrative fine or fines to be paid and the corresponding applicable point assessment. The back of the ticket shall inform the infractor of his/her right to challenge the ticket before the corresponding court and the procedure to be followed, as established in this section. This information shall appear in the English and Spanish languages.
(b) A copy of the ticket shall be delivered to the driver of the vehicle. Another copy of the ticket shall also be delivered to the passenger or owner of the vehicle in the case of violations of §§ 5382 et seq. of this title. In the case of a parked vehicle, the law enforcement officer, according to the provisions of subsection (c) of this section, shall post the ticket in a conspicuous place on said vehicle. The copy so delivered or posted shall contain instructions to request a judicial review as provided in subsection (k) of this section. If the driver is a minor unaccompanied by any of the persons indicated below, delivery of the ticket to the minor shall be deemed as a delivery to the parent, person in charge or guardian of said minor, who shall be liable for the latter. The original and a copy of the ticket shall be immediately forwarded by the law enforcement officer, pursuant to the provisions of subsection (c) of this section, to the Secretary, who shall attach these to the registry records of the vehicle or of the driver object of the alleged violation, as the case may be.
(c) Continuity and permanence shall be given to the Traffic Control Corps, which is functionally under the Office of the Director of Public Works of the Department of Transportation and Public Works, the organizational structure of which shall be defined through regulations.
(d) The Secretary is hereby empowered, through the Traffic Ordinance Corps, to issue tickets for administrative faults related to and adopted by virtue of this chapter which do not constitute violations by vehicles in motion, except for the provisions subsection (30a) of § 5001 of this title.
Any person who violates said provisions shall be bound to pay the fines provided in this chapter.
The Secretary is also authorized to issue tickets and fines for administrative traffic faults related to violations of the dimensions and weight of the vehicles and their loads as provided in §§ 5451-5456 of this title.
Any person who violates the provisions of the above paragraph shall be bound to pay the following fines:
(1) Weight.— Fifty dollars ($50) plus five cents ($0.05) for each pound in excess of the limits established for each axle and total weight as provided by regulations.
The provisions of clause (1) of this subsection shall not apply to those persons to whom the Secretary has issued a special permit, as established in § 5452 of this title.
In order to discharge the duties provided in this subsection, the Secretary shall be empowered to delegate said authority to other officials or employees of the Department, who shall be provided with the proper identification for such a purpose. Said authorized officials or employees shall keep the aforesaid identification in a visible place while performing the duties delegated to them by virtue of this section. The authority conferred by virtue of this subsection shall not constitute a limitation to the powers delegated by law to the Police, Municipal Police or any other law enforcement officer. The Secretary shall establish the mechanisms needed to achieve the effective coordination between the Puerto Rico Police, the Municipal Police and the corresponding municipalities and the Ranger Corps of the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources in all matters pertaining to the issue of tickets for administrative faults.
(e) Any notice of administrative fine filed by the Secretary in the motor vehicle record shall constitute a lien on the title of said vehicle and a ban on the conveyance of said title, or the transfer of the license plate registered for said vehicle -except in the case of repossessed vehicles- and the release of liability, on the issuance or renewal of any type of license of the person who has committed the alleged violation, until the fine has been paid or dismissed as provided herein. The Secretary shall notify the imposition of the lien to the person appearing on record as owner of the vehicle, as well as to any person having any other type of lien imposed on said vehicle as registered in the Department. As to liability regarding administrative fines, it shall be deemed that the notice of the Secretary to the person appearing on record as the vehicle owner -or as certified driver thereof, as the case may be- shall constitute due notice to the persons who actually own the vehicle, and the mere mailing of the notice to the addresses appearing in the Motor Vehicle and Trailer Registry and the Driver Registry, even if not received by the addressees, shall be deemed to be dully served for all legal purposes.
(f) The Secretary shall keep a register of liens created by the administrative traffic fines that shall be available for municipal fiscal information and public inspection. He/she shall also establish a register of the administrative fines imposed on those passengers who violate the provisions of §§ 5401-5425 of this title or its regulations. It shall be the duty of the Secretary to inform, in writing, of the existence of any type of lien or notation to any interested person. Furthermore, it shall be the duty of the Secretary to enter into and implement collaboration agreements with interested municipalities and municipal consortiums in order to modernize the systems of issuing, registering, collecting, and auditing of remittances of fines issued by the Municipal Police, private entities, employees, municipal officials, or enterprises authorized by municipal ordinances to carry out this function; and to agree upon the compensation for any adjustments and changes required. These agreements shall include the delegation to the municipality of the power to collect administrative traffic fines for violations to the municipal ordinances in municipal collections centers established in coordination with the Secretary. Such delegation shall allow the municipality or private entity to remit the fine to the Department for the latter to place a lien if the violator fails to pay the same after thirty (30) days.
(g) Moving violations deemed to be civil fines shall be included in the driver records of the motor vehicle owner, the driver who actually committed the alleged violation, or the certified driver in those cases where the motor vehicle used to commit the moving violations are under a lease agreement, daily rental agreement, or retail installment sales contract. It shall be the duty of the law enforcement officer who issues the traffic ticket for the civil fine to require, in such cases, the driver’s license of the person who allegedly committed the violation; require from the offender the driver’s license, together with a copy of the signed ticket, and ultimately bring the ticket to the Police Station of the location where the violation was committed. When the violation is related to the dimensions or weight of the motor vehicle, trailer, or semi-trailer, the Secretary shall determine, through regulations, the payment and collection method, except as otherwise specially provided in this chapter.
(h) It shall be the duty of the offender to pay any ticket within thirty (30) days of its issue. If said ticket is not paid within such term, a surcharge of five dollars ($5) shall be applied, and if it exceeds sixty (60) days from the date of issue, an additional twenty dollars ($20) shall be paid. Said surcharge may be paid together with the ticket at any Internal Revenue Collections Office before the payment to renew the motor vehicle permit or driver’s license is due. In the case of moving violations, if the fine is not paid prior to such date, the fine shall be included in the driver’s license record of the offender or certified driver. In the event that the ticket for the administrative fine is lost and such fine cannot yet be found as entered in the corresponding registry of the Department, the offender may pay such fine by filing a statement to such effect in the form and manner provided by the Secretary through regulations. Such payment shall be credited to any pending fine previously imposed, in chronological order. Any citizen who has paid any ticket with a surcharge issued after January 1, 2004, shall not be entitled to reimbursement.
(i) If the owner of the vehicle, the driver, the certified driver, the dealer, or the passenger affected by the notice of administrative fine deems that the alleged violation of which he is accused was not committed, he may file a petition for judicial review within thirty (30) days after receipt of the notice.
In order for these fines to be eliminated from the vehicle’s record, its shall not be necessary to furnish proof of the payment thereof at the time of the renewal of the license of the motor vehicle, except if the Department proves that the same were never paid because the vehicle license where the fine appears was not renewed, unless the registered owner furnishes proof of having renewed such license.
(j) If upon an investigation conducted by the Superintendent of Police or an officer with jurisdiction therefor, it is determined that the law enforcement officer who issued the ticket committed an error or a mistake, he/she shall proceed to notify to the Secretary, who may cancel the lien. Likewise, the Secretary may cancel the lien when there is no congruence between the ticket issued and the encumbered vehicle.
(k) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (b) of this section, the Secretary may transfer the title of vehicles with liens pursuant to this section if the lien is imposed after the date on which the vehicle changed owners. The date appearing on the transfer executed on the back of the certificate of title of the motor vehicle or trailer shall be deemed as the date on which the vehicle changed owners. In such cases the Secretary shall process the title transfer, although maintaining the lien on the vehicle on file and informing the fact to new owner. The lien constituted by virtue of an administrative fine created by this subchapter shall have preference over any other lien constituted on a vehicle, including personal property mortgages and conditional sales liens. Any lien imposed on a vehicle shall be subject to these provisions upon the approval of this act.
(l) With regard to administrative traffic fines, the norms below shall be followed:
If the owner of the vehicle, the driver, the dealer, or the passenger affected by the notice of the administrative fine deems that the alleged violation of which he/she is accused was not committed, he/she may file a petition for judicial review within thirty (30) days after the receipt of the notice.
The petition for review shall be formalized by filing a request with the Court Clerk Office stating the grounds on which the traffic fine is contested. Once the request is filed, the petitioner shall notify such request to the Secretary within a term of five (5) days after the filing thereof.
Once the petition for review is filed, the Secretary shall have the duty to remit to the court a certified copy of the documents in the record of the case within ten (10) days after he/she was notified of the filing of the petition for review. Once the court receives such documents, it shall schedule a hearing to be held not later than one hundred and twenty (120) days after receiving such documents. The court shall review on the merits the findings of fact and conclusions of law leading to the imposition and notification of the administrative traffic fine. The court shall pass judgment on the case within a term of five (5) days after the holding of the hearing and such judgment shall be final and binding. The court shall notify its judgment to the Secretary and the petitioner within a term of ten (10) days after having passed judgment.
The petition for review shall be subject to the payment of the filing fees fixed by the Supreme Court, including a forensic stamp, when the petitioner is represented by an attorney.
When filing a petition for review, if the owner of the vehicle, the driver, the certified driver, or the passenger wishes the lien or notation to be cancelled immediately, the petitioner shall deliver to the Department of the Treasury, either personally, through an agent, or by mail, a check or money order to the name of the Secretary of the Treasury to cover the amount of the fine or fines whose review is being sought. The payment thus made shall be returned to the petitioner as soon as the Secretary receives a court notice dismissing the traffic fine or administrative fines.
When the petitioner is the owner of the vehicle, its driver, certified driver, or passenger, and the court rules in favor of the petitioner, as soon as the Secretary receives the corresponding notice from the court, the Secretary shall proceed to cancel the lien or notation resulting from the administrative fine that the court has held to be dismissed. The Secretary shall also proceed to notify this fact in writing to the interested party. If, on the contrary, the court rules against the petitioner, the lien or notation shall remain and may be cancelled only upon payment of the corresponding fine or fines.
(m) Payments for administrative fines may be made at the following places and in the following manner:
(1) At the Department of the Treasury personally, in cash, credit or debit card, check or money order, or by mailing a check or money order payable to Secretary of the Treasury.
(2) At any Internal Revenue Collections Office or municipal or private collections center established through a collaboration agreement with the municipalities or municipal consortiums, by taking the money personally in cash, check or money order payable to the Secretary of the Treasury or the municipality in which the administrative fault was committed if payment is made at a municipal collections center, or by a credit or debit card.
When making the payment at the Internal Revenue Collections Office or municipal or private collections center, the fine issued or the notice indicating that a lien has been put by the Secretary must be shown. When making the payment, the Department or the Internal Revenue Collector or delegated collector in a municipal collections station shall indicate the municipality where the administrative fault was committed and whether the same was a violation of this chapter or a municipal ordinance in the corresponding voucher. Except as otherwise provided herein below, the money collected for fines and penalties for violations of municipal ordinances shall be covered into a special fund to be remitted each month to the corresponding municipality with an express indication of the source of said amount, specifying the ticket whose fine was paid by the violator. From the amount collected for each administrative fine imposed for violations of municipal ordinances that cover the faults described in §§ 5169-5173 of this title, the sum of two dollars ($2) shall be covered into the General Fund of the Commonwealth Government and the sum of one dollar ($1.00) for the Office of the Directorate of Driver’s Services or the amount agreed upon by the municipality to defray the coordination project for the registry, collection, and audit of remittances.
If payment of the fine is made at an Internal Revenue Office, the Collector shall deliver to the interested party or its agent, the original voucher indicating the number of the notice, the number of the driver’s license, the license plate number and the ticket number, as the case may be. A copy of said voucher shall be immediately forwarded to the Secretary who shall proceed without delay to cancel the lien assessed by the notice.
If payment of the fine is made at the Department of the Treasury personally or through an agent, the Department Collector shall immediately proceed to cancel the lien assessed by the notice and give the interested party proof thereof. If payment of the fine is sent by mail to the Department, the Collector shall proceed to cancel the lien assessed by the notice as soon as he/she receives the check or money order, and shall immediately give written notice with acknowledgement of receipt to the interested party.
The administrative procedure established herein shall not prevent the Commonwealth Government, through the Secretary, the Secretary of Justice or any official on whom they may delegate, or the corresponding municipality from judicially claiming the payment of the fines in case they are not satisfied once such a payment becomes final and binding. In said case, any of the aforementioned officials may resort to the procedure provided in Rule 60 of the Rules of Civil Procedure of 2009, as amended. Furthermore, the aggrieved party may not challenge the legality and origin of the administrative fine in said subsequent proceeding.
(n) In the case of persons who own rental vehicles and are duly authorized by the Commission to such ends, it is hereby expressly provided that the Secretary shall establish a special procedure, through regulations, to be followed for serving notices of civil fines imposed on the lessees of said rental vehicles.
(o) In the case of dealers duly authorized by the Secretary for the sale of motor vehicles, he/she is likewise authorized to establish a special procedure by regulations to be followed to serve notice of the administrative faults incurred prior to the date on which the vehicle was transferred to the dealer, and to establish the liability of the motor vehicle dealers for the administrative faults incurred by the users of vehicles that are not registered in the Department, as well as those incurred while using a vehicle with exhibition license plates or a dealer’s number plate.
(p) The Secretary may provide information through restricted access, directly from the computer of the motor vehicle and trailer system, to any insurance company, dealer, duly authorized license broker, company recognized in the computer field that in the regular course of business is engaged in obtaining and selecting information on the automotive industry, or banking, or financing institution duly authorized under the applicable laws to do business in Puerto Rico, exclusively with regard to the files, liens and notations existing in the register established by the Secretary.
The Secretary shall establish by regulations to such effect, the fees to be paid by the institution that wishes to use this service, the procedure to be followed to such ends, as well as the information that may be disclosed to any insurance company, dealer, duly authorized license broker, company recognized in the computer field that in the regular course of business is engaged in obtaining and selecting information on the automotive industry, or banking or financial institution, subject to the limitations established in this section.
This service shall be paid through an internal revenue voucher. The funds collected for this service shall be covered into a special permanent fund, separate and distinct from any other moneys or fund belonging to the Commonwealth Government, which shall be in the custody of the Department of the Treasury, and destined to be used exclusively for the improvement and development of the operations and programs of the Office of the Director of Driver Services (DISCO, Spanish acronym).
Before using the resources deposited in the special fund, the Department shall submit an annual budget of expenses to the Office of the Management and Budget, chargeable to these funds.
(q) The funds collected for tickets for administrative faults imposed under subsection (c) of this section, and those funds related to the fees for the removal, impounding and custody of motor vehicles, as well as additional fees and expenses of public auctions and the publishing of notices required by this chapter, shall be covered into special permanent account and shall be used by the Department to defray the necessary expenses to implement this chapter. One dollar ($1) of the revenues obtained for each ticket shall be set aside to be used by the Office of the Director of Driver Services (DISCO) to cover the cost of issuing, collecting and canceling the amount of said tickets, as well as the operations and programs of said Office.
Before using the resources covered into the abovementioned special account, the Department shall submit an annual budget of expenses chargeable to said funds, to the Office of the Management and Budget. The remainder of the funds that as of June 30 of the current fiscal year have not been used, even though not encumbered, shall become a part of the special account established herein.
(r) Without prejudice to what is provided in the previous paragraphs, any citizen may pay administrative fines for the traffic violations and administrative violations contemplated in the subsections previous to this section through a cyber service established for this purpose by the Department of Transportation and Public Works. The cyber service referred to shall contain data on all traffic or administrative violations in such a way that drivers may identify their debts originating from such violations and may ascertain the correctness and truthfulness of the charges made.
In compliance with the provisions of the previous paragraph, said cyber service shall function as a registry that shall contain all the information required by this section, including information concerning the amount of the penalty corresponding to municipalities, for an appropriate documentation of all traffic or administrative violations, as established in the administrative procedure regulated by this section.
The access to the cyber service created herein requires entering the driver’s license corresponding to the user wanting access to the same, as well as entering the number assigned by the Department to each driver, which shall be a second access code to the service, to guarantee its confidentiality.
History —Jan. 7, 2000, No. 22, § 24.05; Oct. 9, 2000, No. 414, § 25; Jan. 8, 2004, No. 10, § 1; renumbered as § 23.05 and amended on June 3, 2004, No. 132, §§ 17, 24; June 24, 2004, No. 158, § 1; Aug. 19, 2005, No. 56, § 1; Aug. 19, 2005, No. 57, §§ 6, 7; Oct. 10, 2005, No. 130, § 1; Nov. 2, 2007, No. 159, § 2; Aug. 7, 2008, No. 192, § 1; Nov. 5, 2009, No. 47, § 15; Dec. 21, 2010, No. 209, § 2; Aug. 16, 2012, No. 178, § 1; Sept. 15, 2012, No. 253, § 5.