P.R. Laws tit. 20, § 633
It shall be illegal to engage or offer to engage in practices proper to the agronomy profession, or to use or advertise in relation to one’s name, any title, abbreviation, word or term or description which could give the impression that one is authorized to practice the profession if one does not meet all license and mandatory association requirements as established in this chapter. Likewise, it shall be illegal for a person or entity to solicit or accept, contract, convene or agree to engage professional services from a person who does not comply or lacks evidence attesting that he/she complies with the requirements established for the practice of the agronomy profession in Puerto Rico.
Any person who, without being duly admitted into the practice of the agronomy profession in Puerto Rico, as provided in this chapter, or who during the suspension of his/her license practices as a person legally qualified to do so, or who uses or attempts to use as if his/her own, the license, certificate or seal of an agronomy professional, or who presents before the Association, the Board or any of the members of the latter, false or adulterated evidence to obtain a license or certification or to renew or reactivate the same; or who purports to be a registered professional or who attempts to use a revoked license or certificate; or who violates any of the provisions of this chapter or its regulations, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction, punished by a fine of not less than five hundred [dollars] ($500) nor greater than two thousand dollars ($2,000), or by imprisonment for a term not to exceed three (3) months, or by both penalties, at the discretion of the court.
Any person who contracts or encourages another person to practice the agronomy profession without being duly authorized to practice as such, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction, punished by imprisonment for a term not to exceed three (3) months, or by a fine of not less than five hundred [dollars] ($500) nor greater than two thousand dollars ($2,000), or by both penalties, at the discretion of the court. Likewise, the court may impose the penalty of rendering community services in lieu of the penalty of imprisonment established herein.
Any natural person who on more than one (1) occasion commits any crime relative to the practice of the profession, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and punished by a fine of not less than two thousand dollars ($2,000) nor greater than four thousand dollars ($4,000), or by imprisonment for a term of not less than one (1) month nor greater than three (3) months, or by both penalties, at the discretion of the court.
Any juridical person who on more than one (1) occasion commits any crime relative to the practice of the profession, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and punished by a fine of not less than three thousand dollars ($3,000) nor greater than five thousand dollars ($5,000) and by being bound to render community services, as defined in the Penal Code.
If the person thus convicted should be an agronomist or an agronomy professional, the court shall notify the Board of such conviction and remit a copy of the judgment.
The Board and/or the Association may, per se or duly assisted by the Department of Justice of Puerto Rico, resort to the courts in cases involving the illegal practice of the profession regulated herein or other violations of this chapter, as provided in this section, in order to obtain, through an injunction procedure, an order for offenders to cease and desist from the criminal conduct established herein, under admonishment of penalty of contempt.
History —Apr. 9, 1941, No. 20, p. 360, § 14; June 21, 1971, No. 55, p. 180, § 4; renumbered as § 15 and amended on Dec. 13, 2006, No. 265, § 7.