Boating tickets and fines in Puerto Rico

It is the administrative fine and ticket system of the Navigation and Water Safety Act. It has three pieces: Article 10 sets who may fine and up to how much; Article 11 creates the entry on the vessel’s register and explains how it is cancelled; and Article 12 describes the ticket, its delivery, the reconsideration deadline and where it is paid.

It reaches whoever receives a ticket or an administrative fine for breaching this Act or its regulations, and the vessel itself, because the entry is made on its register. Article 11(2) states who is notified: the person appearing in the files as owner and anyone holding another registered lien on the vessel. Notice to whoever appears as owner counts as notice to whoever is in fact the owner, and mere mailing to the address in the Registro de Numeración e Inscripción counts as notice for all legal purposes even if not received.

• Requesting reconsideration of the ticket within thirty (30) days; the ticket’s copy contains the instructions for seeking review before the Secretary (Article 12(3)).Verified against the official source
• Paying a ticket’s fine at any Colecturía de Rentas Internas or at the Department, showing the ticket, its copy or the notice of the entry (Article 12(4)).Verified against the official source
• Paying at the Department, to the authorised Collector, a fine imposed as a result of an adjudicative proceeding (Article 10(1)).Verified against the official source
• Satisfying, annulling or cancelling the entry before renewing the numbering certificate and the sticker or registering a transfer of title (Article 11(1)).Verified against the official source
• If a case is pending and renewal or transfer is wanted anyway, paying the full amount of the fine or fines under review; if the final determination is favourable the amount paid is returned and the entry cancelled (Article 11(1)).Verified against the official source

• The ticket or its copy, carrying the date, the officer’s signature, the registration and inscription number, the case number, the alleged infraction and the amount to be paid (Article 12(2)).
• The notice of the entry the Secretary sends to whoever appears as owner in the files (Article 11(2)).
• Evidence of payment, which is what allows the Secretary to cancel the ticket and make the corresponding entry on the register (Article 12(4)).

1. 1

   Step 1: Thirty days to seek reconsideration

   It is the deadline that matters most, so it goes first. Article 12(3) says the copy handed to the owner or operator, or affixed to the vessel, or mailed, shall contain the instructions for seeking review before the Secretary, whose procedure is set by regulation, and adds: the person shall have thirty days to request reconsideration of the ticket. Article 12(6) explains what happens if nothing is done: where no review is sought and the fine is not paid within thirty days of the ticket being issued or notified, the Secretary may take the legal actions that apply for collection in those cases where the vessel is not registered in Puerto Rico.

2. 2

   Step 2: Five thousand dollars is the ceiling per incident

   Article 10(1) empowers the Secretary to establish and impose, by regulation, administrative fines for breaches of this Act in cases where no administrative fine has previously been set or where the conduct is considered a crime, and also for breaches of the regulations adopted under the Act. And it sets the limit: the administrative fines the Secretary imposes shall not exceed five thousand dollars per incident. The unit is the incident.

3. 3

   Step 3: Where you pay depends on where the fine came from

   Article 10(1) separates the two routes. Administrative fines imposed as a result of an adjudicative proceeding are paid at the Department to the authorised Collector, in cash, by cheque, money order or any other method the Treasury Department accepts, made out to the Secretary of the Treasury. Those arising from a ticket are paid at any Colecturía de Rentas Internas. Article 12(4) adds that a ticket may also be paid at the Department, taking the money in person or through an authorised agent, and showing the ticket, its copy or the notice of the entry.

4. 4

   Step 4: The entry blocks the sticker and the transfer

   Article 11(1) is the part that is felt most. Every notice of an administrative fine filed by the Secretary on a vessel’s register constitutes a bar to registering the transfer of that title, and to issuing or renewing the corresponding numbering certificate and sticker, until the fine is satisfied, annulled or cancelled. It is not a warning: it is a block on two separate transactions, the sticker and the sale.

5. 5

   Step 5: If you are contesting the fine and need the sticker

   The same Article 11(1) foresees this. Where a quasi-judicial or judicial process over the fine is pending and the party charged wishes to renew the numbering certificate or the sticker, register a transfer of title, or have the entry cancelled for any reason, they must pay it, covering the full amount of the fine or fines under review. Once there is a final determination, resolution or judgment, if favourable the amount paid is returned and the entry cancelled. If adverse, the entry stands and can only be cancelled by payment.

6. 6

   Step 6: The forty-five-day rule

   Article 11(2) imposes a deadline on the Department itself, with a consequence attached: every administrative fine imposed and every infraction ticket issued against a vessel under this Act must be registered and available for inspection and certification within forty-five days of its imposition or issue. If that requirement is not met, the administrative fine or the ticket may be annulled. The same subsection obliges the Secretary to report, verbally or in writing, to any interested applicant on the existence of any lien or entry known, within forty-eight hours of the request.

7. 7

   Step 7: The five ways an entry falls away

   Article 11(3) lists them. If the fine was set in a quasi-judicial proceeding and did not come from a ticket, the entry is cancelled when the fine is paid and payment evidenced. If it came from a ticket, there are five situations: one, payment made and evidenced; two, where a quasi-judicial or judicial proceeding establishes the imputed infraction was not committed, if review was requested; three, where, after investigation by the most senior officer of the force the intervening officer belongs to, it is determined the officer erred or was mistaken and the ticket is annulled, reporting it to the Commander of the Cuerpo de Vigilantes and to the Navigation Commissioner; four, where the unpaid ticket is more than five years old; and five, where the register shows no fine underlying the entry.

8. 8

   Step 8: Buying a vessel with fines on it

   Article 11(4) lets the transfer proceed, but moves the bill. The Secretary may process the transfer of title of vessels carrying entries where the fine was imposed before the date the vessel changed hands, that date being the one on the transfer formalised at the Department. In that case the transfer goes through, but the entry stays in the file and the new owner is informed and must pay at the moment of transfer. That is why the Article 11(2) right to have the Secretary report on liens within forty-eight hours is used before buying, not after.

9. 9

   Step 9: What the ticket must say

   Article 12(2) describes the document. Law-enforcement officers shall date and sign the ticket, write the registration and inscription number and the case number, which shall state the infraction allegedly committed and the amount of the fine to be paid. Article 12(3) adds how it arrives: a copy to the owner or operator or the offender, and also a copy mailed or affixed to the vessel where circumstances allow, with a record kept. The original and copy are sent immediately to the Secretary through the stations or offices, and the Secretary adds them to the vessel’s register file.

10. 10

    Step 10: When an administrative fine becomes a crime

    Article 10(3) carries an escalation worth knowing. Where the operator or user of a vessel, craft or navigation vehicle commits an infraction for which an administrative fine is set and as a result causes or contributes to causing an accident resulting in injury to a person or damage to another’s property, that act shall be considered a misdemeanour. The same subsection clarifies this does not impair the power to prosecute acts as a felony or misdemeanour typified in the Penal Code or in any other special law.

11. 11

    Step 11: Where the money goes, and a slip in the document

    Article 10(3) says every administrative fine for breaching this Act or its regulations shall go into the Special Fund established in Article 14. We report the reference as printed and point out what is visible in the compilation itself: Article 14 of this text is about infrastructure for water sports, and the Special Fund is created by Article 15, which the compilation’s note says Act 35-2024 renumbered from Article 14. The cross-reference was left unupdated. Article 15 says the proceeds of fees and of administrative and judicial fines shall go into a Special Fund in the State Treasury intended mainly for implementing this Act and its regulations.

Reconsideration is requested from the Secretary of the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, following the instructions the ticket’s copy must carry and the procedure the Department sets by regulation. A ticket is paid at any Colecturía de Rentas Internas or at the Department; a fine imposed in an adjudicative proceeding is paid at the Department, to the authorised Collector. Enquiries about liens and entries go to the Secretary, who must answer within forty-eight hours.

• Letting the thirty days pass: that is the deadline to request reconsideration of the ticket.
• Assuming it does not count if nobody handed you the ticket: the copy may be affixed to the vessel or mailed.
• Relying on the notice never arriving: mere mailing to the address on the register counts as notice for all purposes.
• Going to renew the sticker with a fine entered: the entry blocks renewal and also transfer.
• Believing that contesting the fine lifts the block: the full amount must be paid, and is returned if you win.
• Paying a ticket in the wrong place: tickets are paid at a Colecturía de Rentas Internas or at the Department.
• Buying a vessel without asking about entries: the new owner pays, at the moment of transfer, fines predating the sale.
• Not using the right to have the Secretary report on liens within forty-eight hours.
• Ignoring the forty-five-day rule: if the ticket was not registered within that term, it may be annulled.
• Not knowing an unpaid ticket more than five years old may be annulled.
• Thinking an administrative fine never becomes a crime: if it causes an accident with injury or damage to another’s property, it is a misdemeanour.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Recursos Naturales y Ambientales (DRNA)

  DRNA

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