P.R. Laws tit. 3, § 2102
For the purposes of this chapter the following terms or phrases shall have the meaning stated hereinafter:
(a) Agency.— Means any board, body, court of examiners, public corporation, commission, committee, independent office, division, administration, bureau, department, authority, officer, official, person, entity or any instrumentality of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or administrative body authorized by law to carry out regulatory or investigative functions or able to issue a decision or with the power to issue licenses, certificates, permits, concessions, accreditations, privileges, franchises and to accuse or adjudicate, except:
(1) The Senate and the House of Representatives of the Legislature.
(2) The Judicial Branch.
(3) The Office of the Governor and all its attached offices excepting those where the application of the provisions of this chapter have been literally expressed.
(4) The Puerto Rico National Guard.
(5) The municipal governments or their entities or corporations.
(6) The Commonwealth Elections Commission.
(7) The Conciliation and Arbitration Bureau of the Depart[ment] of Labor and Human Resources.
(8) The Advisory Board of the Department of Consumer Affairs on the Classification System of the Television Programs and Hazardous Toys.
(9) The Commission to Resolve Controversies over Payments and Debts between Government Agencies.
(b) Adjudication.— Means the statement whereby an agency determines the rights, obligations or privileges that correspond to a party.
(c) Guidance document.— Means a record, whether in electronic or paper format, of general applicability developed by an agency which lacks the force of law but states the agency’s current interpretation of law, or public policy, or describes how and when the agency shall exercise discretionary functions. It includes official interpretations as defined in this chapter. This term does not include documents constituting regulations or rules as defined in this chapter.
(ch) Record.— Means all the documents which have not been exempted from disclosure by an act and other material related to a specific matter which is or has been under consideration by an agency.
(d) Head of an agency.— Means any person or group of persons upon whom the final statutory authority of an agency has been conferred by law.
(e) Official interpretation.— Means the agency’s official interpretation of any law or regulations administered by it, which is issued by petition of a party or by the agency’s initiative and is made a part of the formal catalog of the agency’s interpretations.
(f) Intervenor.— Means any person who is not an original party in any adjudicative process conducted by an agency and who has shown his qualifications or interest in the procedure.
(g) Order or resolution.— Means any specific decision or action applied by an agency which adjudicates certain rights or obligations of one or more persons, specifically, or that imposes administrative penalties or sanctions, excluding executive orders issued by the Governor.
(h) Partial order or resolution.— Means any action by an agency that adjudicates a right or obligation which does not terminate the total controversy but just a specific phase thereof.
(i) Interlocutory order.— Means any action by an agency in an adjudicatory procedure which resolves a purely procedural matter.
(j) Person.— Means any natural or juridical person of a public or private nature that is not an agency.
(k) Party.— Means any legally authorized person or agency towards whom the action of an agency is specifically addressed or a party to said action or who is allowed to intervene or participate therein or who has filed a petition for the review or compliance of an order or who is designated as a party in said procedure.
(l) Administrative procedure.— Means the drafting of rules and regulations, the formal adjudication of any controversy or question under the consideration of an agency, the granting of licenses and any investigative process initiated by an agency within the scope of its legal authority.
(m) Rule or regulation.— Means any rule or group of rules of an agency which is generally applied that executes or interprets public policy or the law or that regulates the requirements of the procedures or practices of an agency that has the force of law. The term includes the amendment, repeal, or suspension of an existing rule. The term does not include:
(1) Rules related to the internal management of an agency or intergovernmental or interagency communications that do not affect the rights or procedures or practices available to the public in general.
(2) Guidance documents as defined in this chapter.
(3) Mandatory decrees approved by the Minimum Wage Board.
(4) Price decrees by the Department of Consumer Affairs and other similar decrees or orders that are issued or may be issued in the future by other agencies and which are merely a determination of one or several regulating parameters based on previously approved regulations which contain the issuing standards.
(5) Forms and instructions, provided they do not constitute a guideline.
(n) Regulation.— Means the procedure used by an agency to draft, adopt, amend or repeal a rule or regulations.
(o) Secretary.— Means the Secretary of State.
History —Aug. 12, 1988, No. 170, § 1.3; Nov. 30, 1990, No. 18, § 1; Aug. 8, 1997, No. 60, § 5; Aug. 17, 2002, No. 190, § 1; Jan. 10, 2004, No. 44, § 1; Feb. 17, 2006, No. 61, § 9; May 18, 2015, No. 68, § 1, eff. 30 days after May 18, 2015.