P.R. Laws Ap. tit. 32A, § IV, Rule 25A
(A) As used in this rule the following expressions shall have the meaning indicated below:
(1) Client. — A natural or juridical person who consults a certified public accountant with the purpose of contracting him/her or obtaining his/her professional services.
(2) Confidential Communication. — That communication that takes place between a certified public accountant and his/her client including his/her associates, assistants and office-employees with regard to a professional matter, carried out during the practice of the accounting profession based on the trust that it will not be disclosed to third persons, except those needed to execute the purposes of the communication.
(3) Certified Public Accountant. — Every individual who holds a license to engage in the practice of public accountancy in Puerto Rico, issued by the Board of Accountancy as it is defined in the Public Accountancy Act, §§ 771 et seq. of Title 20.
(B) Subject to the provisions of this rule, the client, whether he/she is part of a suit or action or not, has the privilege of refusing, revealing and preventing another from revealing a confidential communication between him/her and his/her certified public accountant. The privilege may only be invoked by the client, who is the person possessing the privilege.
(C) The privilege under this rule does not exist if:
(1) The services of the certified public accountant were requested and obtained to allow or assist any person in the commission, or planning the commission of a crime, a unlawful act or fraud.
(2) The communication is pertinent to a controversy related to a violation by the certified public accountant, of a duty that arises from the certified public accountant and client relationship.
(3) The communication is pertinent to a matter of common interest for two or more clients of the certified public accountant, in which case one client cannot invoke the privilege against the other two.
(4) The contents of the communication are required in the course of a civil or criminal procedure under the “Weapons Act”, §§ 411 et seq. of Title 25; the Controlled Substances Act, §§ 2101 et seq. of Title 24; the “Explosives Act”, §§ 561 et seq. of Title 25; the “Act Against Organized Crime”, §§ 971 et seq. of Title 25; and the provisions of the Penal Code, §§ 3001 et seq. of Title 33; as well as the special acts on these matters.
(5) The communication between the certified public accountant and his/her client is subject to the norms that regulate the accountancy profession requiring their disclosure.
(6) The communication between the certified public accountant and his/her client can be disclosed by legal mandate or by a pressing public interest.
(D) When two or more persons join as clients of the same certified public accountant with regard to a matter of common interest between them, none of them may waive the privilege without the consent of the others.
History —Added on Nov. 11, 1994, No. 124, § 1.