Agencies
Agencies
The agencies that handle these procedures in Puerto Rico, and the guides for each one.
Poder Judicial
Poder Judicial de Puerto Rico
The Judicial Branch: the Court of First Instance, the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. Divorce, custody, court-ordered child support and eviction cases are filed here, among others. It publishes official self-representation forms and per-topic orientation pages, and runs the Pro Se Centers.
OGPe
Oficina de Gerencia de Permisos (OGPe)
Evaluates and issues construction and use permits, including the Single Permit.
Salud
Departamento de Salud de Puerto Rico
Includes the Demographic Registry, which issues birth, marriage and death certificates.
Departamento del Trabajo
Departamento del Trabajo y Recursos Humanos (DTRH)
Administers unemployment insurance and labor rights in Puerto Rico.
Junta de Planificación
Junta de Planificación de Puerto Rico (JP)
The body that sets land use policy in Puerto Rico. It adopts the Land Use Plan and reviews municipal Territorial Ordering Plans, and through its Office of Geology and Hydrogeology it coordinates the National Flood Insurance Program and certifies federal consistency with the Coastal Zone Management Program.
DACO
Departamento de Asuntos del Consumidor (DACO)
Handles consumer complaints against merchants and adjudicates disputes: purchases, warranties, construction, contracting of works and services, parking, motor vehicles and condominium law. It also licenses condominium managing agents, registered mechanics and discount market operators.
DTOP
Departamento de Transportación y Obras Públicas (DTOP)
Puerto Rico’s umbrella transportation agency. Covers CESCO, REAL ID, AutoExpreso and highways.
Educación
Departamento de Educación de Puerto Rico
Runs Puerto Rico’s public school system. Enrollment is requested online, and new-student cases are handled through seven regional education offices.
Policía de PR
Policía de Puerto Rico
Issues criminal record certificates and administers weapons licenses.
DRNA
Departamento de Recursos Naturales y Ambientales (DRNA)
The agency created in 1972 that administers Puerto Rico’s natural resources: forests, bodies of water, wildlife, fisheries, mangroves and the extraction of earth-crust materials. Its Rangers Corps handles complaints about illegal tree cutting, unpermitted work and other violations of the laws the Department administers.
Hacienda
Departamento de Hacienda de Puerto Rico
Administers taxes, sales tax, merchant registration and the SURI system.
PR.gov
Portal de Servicios del Gobierno de Puerto Rico (PR.gov)
Central portal where several certificates and services are requested online.
Justicia
Departamento de Justicia de Puerto Rico
The Department that legally represents the Government of Puerto Rico and prosecutes crime. For the public it is also home to several registries and direct-service offices: the Property Registry, where deeds are recorded and registry certifications requested; the Criminal Justice Information System (SIJC), which maintains the Registry of Persons Convicted of Sexual Crimes and Abuse Against Minors; the Office of Services to Crime Victims and Witnesses; and the Lobbyist Registry. It is located at Calle Teniente César González 677 at Avenida Jesús T. Piñero, San Juan, and answers at (787) 721-2900.
CESCO
Directoría de Servicios al Conductor (CESCO)
Handles driver licenses, vehicle registration, marbetes and traffic fines. Part of the Department of Transportation and Public Works.
Departamento de Estado
Departamento de Estado de Puerto Rico
Registers corporations, LLCs and other legal entities in Puerto Rico.
Fondo del Seguro del Estado
Corporación del Fondo del Seguro del Estado (CFSE)
Handles workers who are injured on the job or develop an occupational illness: medical treatment, compensation while on leave, and disability compensation. It runs dispensaries, regional offices and the Industrial Hospital.
OCS
Oficina del Comisionado de Seguros (OCS)
The agency that regulates Puerto Rico’s insurance industry. It sets the rules for the Compulsory Liability Insurance paid with the marbete, publishes the Uniform Policy and the insurer Selection Form, and receives complaints against insurers and against anyone interfering with your right to choose one.
Vivienda
Departamento de la Vivienda
The agency responsible for housing policy in Puerto Rico. It runs programs such as materials assistance, available lots and elderly housing, and the Public Housing Administration reports to it.
Agricultura
Departamento de Agricultura de Puerto Rico
The umbrella agency for the agricultural sector, covering the Agricultural Enterprise Development Administration (ADEA), the Land Authority, the Agricultural Insurance Corporation and the Agricultural Development Innovation Fund. It publishes the Incentives Program each year and operates eight agricultural regions.
Familia
Departamento de la Familia
Umbrella agency for social assistance programs, including ADSEF.
LUMA
LUMA Energy
Private operator of electricity transmission and distribution in Puerto Rico. Not a government agency.
Municipios
Municipios de Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico’s seventy-eight municipalities, which Act 107-2020, the Municipal Code of Puerto Rico, empowers to impose and collect the municipal business tax, declare properties a public nuisance, deal with housing unfit to live in and collect construction excise taxes, among other things. There is no single portal for all of them: each municipality has its own Casa Alcaldía, its own Director de Finanzas and its own ordinances, and much of the detail of these procedures lives in that local ordinance rather than in the Code. That is why no single web address is published here, and the guides point to the municipality where the property or business is.
DDEC
Departamento de Desarrollo Económico y Comercio (DDEC)
The agency responsible for the Government of Puerto Rico’s economic development policy. It administers the Economic Incentives Fund created by Ley 60-2019, the Incentives Code, and through its Trade and Export Program awards reimbursement incentives to small and medium-sized businesses. It also runs the Centro Único de Servicios, a single point of guidance for anyone opening or expanding a business.
Procurador del Veterano
Oficina del Procurador del Veterano Puertorriqueño
The office that Act 203-2007, the Bill of Rights of the Puerto Rican Veteran for the 21st Century, places at the centre of the veterans’ rights system. The act assigns it concrete functions: it receives from every employer notice of employment announcements for competitive positions and circulates them to duly organised veterans’ organisations, and it receives from the Department of Education the annual report on federal funds available for veterans’ studies. Its portal did not respond from the environment in which these guides were verified, so no web address is published here: confirm one before relying on it.
DRD
Departamento de Recreación y Deportes (DRD)
The agency that runs the Government of Puerto Rico’s recreation and sports programmes: the Juegos de Puerto Rico, the Sports Development Centers and their adapted centers, school sports and programmes for older adults. Its Institute (IPDDER) certifies coaches, recreation leaders, referees and fitness instructors.
OATRH
Oficina de Administración y Transformación de los Recursos Humanos (OATRH)
The office that administers the Government of Puerto Rico’s human resources policy under Ley 8-2017. Among its citizen-facing services is the habilitación process, which lets a person who is ineligible for public service be evaluated and declared fit to join or rejoin it.
ICP
Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña (ICP)
Created by Ley 89 of 1955, it conserves Puerto Rico’s cultural heritage. For a citizen it matters for three concrete things: it makes recommendations to the Permit Management Office on every intervention in historic properties and zones, evaluates construction projects for possible archaeological impact, and holds the General Archive of Puerto Rico. It also awards grants to artists and cultural projects.
ACAA
Administración de Compensaciones por Accidentes de Automóviles (ACAA)
Administers Puerto Rico’s traffic accident insurance and compensation system. It covers bodily injury to drivers, passengers, pedestrians, cyclists and riders: medical and hospital services, disability compensation, dismemberment compensation, death benefits and funeral expenses. It does not cover damage to the vehicle.
ASSMCA
Administración de Servicios de Salud Mental y Contra la Adicción (ASSMCA)
Puerto Rico’s mental health and addiction agency. It runs the PAS crisis intervention line, available 24 hours a day, and a network of treatment services for children, young people, adults and homeless people, and licenses the sector’s facilities.
OCIF
Oficina del Comisionado de Instituciones Financieras (OCIF)
Created by Ley 4-1985, it regulates and supervises Puerto Rico’s financial institutions and handles complaints against them: banks organized in Puerto Rico, mortgage companies, pawnshops, check-cashing businesses, money transmitters, small personal loan companies and securities brokerages, among others. It also holds the money from inactive accounts and unclaimed property until its owner claims it.
AAA
Autoridad de Acueductos y Alcantarillados (AAA)
Provides drinking water and sewer services in Puerto Rico. Its customer portal is Mi Acueductos, and its Call Center handles outages, balances and service orders.
ACUDEN
Administración para el Cuidado y Desarrollo Integral de la Niñez (ACUDEN)
An operational component of the Department of the Family created by Act 179 of 1 August 2003. It administers the federal funds for Head Start, Early Head Start and the Child Care programme, and licenses establishments caring for children or elderly people.
ASUME
Administración para el Sustento de Menores (ASUME)
Administers child support and issues compliance certifications.
CEE
Comisión Estatal de Elecciones (CEE)
The agency that administers Puerto Rico’s voter registry and electoral events. Its Permanent Registration Boards (JIP) register voters, issue the Electoral Identification Card and process address and precinct changes; the JAVAA administers absentee and early voting.
COSSEC
Corporación Pública para la Supervisión y Seguro de Cooperativas de Ahorro y Crédito (COSSEC)
Created by Ley 114-2001, it supervises and insures Puerto Rico’s savings and credit cooperatives. The Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies Act calls it simply "the Corporation" and gives it concrete roles toward a member: it adjudicates the dispute when a cooperative denies a member examination of its books, and it authorizes loan portfolio sales and asset transactions that can affect members’ shares.
Procurador del Paciente
Oficina del Procurador del Paciente (OPP)
Handles patient claims over violations of their rights by insurers, mental health organisations or health service providers. Under Act 47-2017 it summarily adjudicates, within no more than 72 hours, denials and delays relating to hospitalisation and emergencies.
Procuradora de las Mujeres
Oficina de la Procuradora de las Mujeres (OPM)
The office that oversees and promotes compliance with public policy on women’s rights. It certifies the Legal Advocates who accompany people seeking court remedies for domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, dating violence and human trafficking, and maintains a toll-free guidance line.
Bomberos
Negociado del Cuerpo de Bomberos de Puerto Rico
The Public Safety Department component that inspects commercial premises, buildings and public activities, and issues the fire-prevention permits a business, an event or a residential building needs to operate. It publishes the basic safety requirements and the fee schedule for each permit.
DSP
Departamento de Seguridad Pública de Puerto Rico (DSP)
Created by Act 20-2017, it groups the Police, Fire, Medical Emergencies, Emergency Management and Forensic Sciences bureaus. Among other things, it regulates how health facilities, dialysis centers, airports, gas stations, nursing homes, elderly housing and children’s and adults’ homes must prepare to keep operating during an emergency caused by a natural disaster.
Negociado de Energía
Negociado de Energía de Puerto Rico (NEPR)
An independent public entity created by Act 57-2014 to regulate, oversee and supervise the electricity industry, and to adjudicate cases and disputes. It is the forum that reviews electric service companies’ determinations about bills, and it operates no company in the industry.
OPPEA
Oficina del Procurador de las Personas de Edad Avanzada (OPPEA)
Created by Act No. 203 of 7 August 2004. It receives, handles, processes and investigates complaints about acts or omissions violating the rights of older adults, and can order corrective action. It runs the Long-Term Care Ombudsman and the PROVIEN programme for crime victims.
ADSEF
Administración de Desarrollo Socioeconómico de la Familia (ADSEF)
Administers the Nutrition Assistance Program (PAN) and other economic assistance programs.
AVP
Administración de Vivienda Pública (AVP)
Attached to the Department of Housing, it runs the public housing developments and the Housing Choice Voucher Program (Section 8). These are two separate programs, with separate applications.
Comisión Industrial
Comisión Industrial de Puerto Rico (CIPR)
The administrative agency that reviews decisions of the State Insurance Fund Corporation. It is where an injured worker appeals when they disagree with what the CFSE decided about their treatment, their disability rating or their compensation.
ASES
Administración de Seguros de Salud (ASES)
Administers the government health plan, known as Plan Vital.
Servicios Legislativos
Oficina de Servicios Legislativos de Puerto Rico (OSL)
The Legislative Assembly office that maintains the Single Legislative Tracking System (SUTRA), where the official record of every approved act is consulted: its number, the measure that originated it, the signing date, the effective date and its full title. It processes no public services and interprets no law; it is the source for confirming that a cited act exists and says what is attributed to it.
U.S. State Department
Departamento de Estado de los Estados Unidos
Federal agency that issues U.S. passports. Puerto Rico uses the same federal process.
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