ATMs: braille and headphone access are mandatory

It is a short law with a clear command: every ATM in Puerto Rico must have a braille keypad and a headphone jack. They are not alternatives to each other, they are two requirements: braille to read the keys by touch, and the headphone system so an automated voice guides you through the machine’s programme. And it applies equally to the big bank, the foreign bank, the cooperative and the private company operating the ATM at a petrol station.

The duty falls on “every private company, cooperative, local or foreign bank providing automated teller machine services in the jurisdiction of Puerto Rico.” There is no requirement for the user to meet: it is a duty of the ATM operator, not a benefit you apply for. The Act’s title names blind or visually impaired persons, but Article 1’s text orders the equipment on all ATMs without conditioning it on who uses them.

Information pending verification.

Information pending verification.

1. 1

   Step 1: It is two things, not one

   Article 1 orders them together: “implement on all automated teller machines the option of keypads with the ‘Braille’ System, as well as the system for using headphones.” The Act defines each. The “Braille System” is the “tactile writing system for blind persons.” The “Headphone System” is the “system that allows connecting headphones or earphones and thereby accessing the ATM programme through the guidance of an automated voice.” A machine with braille keys but no audio jack does not meet the second half.

2. 2

   Step 2: Who is bound: banks, cooperatives and private companies

   The Article 1 list is deliberately broad: “every private company, cooperative, local or foreign bank providing automated teller machine services in the jurisdiction of Puerto Rico.” The Act defines “Local Bank” as a corporation organized and authorized to operate under the Banking Act, and “Foreign Bank” as one organized under the laws of another territory, state or country that has been authorized to operate in Puerto Rico under that same Banking Act. And it defines “Cooperative” as “any institution organized under the provisions of Act No. 239 of 2004.”

3. 3

   Step 3: What counts as an ATM

   The definition is functional: “Any electronic mechanism that accepts or dispenses cash related to a credit account, deposit account or savings account.” If the machine accepts or dispenses cash against one of those accounts, it is in.

4. 4

   Step 4: What falls outside, and why it matters to know

   The same definition expressly excludes three things, and it helps to know them before claiming in the wrong place. “This term does not include mechanisms used to: (i) grant check guarantees or authorizations, (ii) accept or dispense cash in a person-to-person relationship, including in-store tellers; or (iii) to make payments in connection with the purchase of goods and services.” That is: the terminal where you swipe your card to pay in a store is not an ATM under this Act, and cash back from a human cashier is not either.

5. 5

   Step 5: Who oversees compliance, per the text

   Article 3 says: “The Advocate for Persons with Disabilities shall be empowered to oversee faithful compliance with this Act, in accordance with the powers and faculties conferred in Act No. 2 of September 27, 1985, as amended, known as the ‘Act of the Advocate for Persons with Disabilities.’” Here is something we would rather tell you: OGP’s own Virtual Library catalog marks that Act 2-1985 as REPEALED. We did not read the acts that replaced it, so we will not tell you which office holds that power today. We tell you what the article says and what the catalog says, and we stop there.

6. 6

   Step 6: This Act carries no fine and no complaint procedure

   We say this so the expectation is right. Act 201-2008 has four articles: the command, the definitions, the oversight power and the effective date. It contains no penalty, no form, no claim deadline and no administrative procedure. Other accessibility laws do carry those pieces; this one does not, and we are not going to borrow them from another Act.

7. 7

   Step 7: Since when it has been in force

   Article 4 is one line: “This Act shall take effect six (6) months after its approval.” No additional written grace period for already-installed machines: Article 1’s command speaks of “all automated teller machines,” without distinguishing new from existing.

There is nothing to apply for: the Act imposes a duty on the ATM operator, not a procedure on the user. The Act designates the Advocate for Persons with Disabilities to oversee compliance, citing an act OGP’s catalog marks repealed, and we did not read the ones that replaced it. If the barrier is a public entity’s website rather than an ATM, that one does have a written complaint route, and we cover it separately.

• Believing the braille keypad is enough: the Act also orders the system for using headphones.
• Claiming about a store’s payment terminal: the Act expressly excludes mechanisms for paying for goods and services.
• Claiming about cash back from a human cashier: the Act excludes dispensing cash in a person-to-person relationship, including in-store tellers.
• Thinking it applies only to banks: it also covers cooperatives and any private company providing ATM services.
• Assuming older machines were exempted: the command speaks of all automated teller machines, without distinction.
• Looking in this Act for a fine or a complaint form: it has neither.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Portal de Servicios del Gobierno de Puerto Rico (PR.gov)

  PR.gov

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov