“That product is not approved in Puerto Rico”: the filing that approves it

It is an approval of the product, not of the works. When someone wants to bring into Puerto Rico a construction system or product the Building Code does not contemplate directly — a panel system, a type of anchor, a roofing material, a new technology — OGPe evaluates whether that system or product meets the minimum quality and standards the Code demands. Once the system is approved, it stops being a case-by-case argument at every permit. The filer is normally the manufacturer, importer or distributor, not a homeowner. But it is useful for the homeowner to know the filing exists: if a contractor tells you the product you want to use is not approved, there is a formal route to find out whether that is true and to have it approved.

The manual does not restrict who may file by profession or entity type, and this guide does not add a requirement the source does not impose. What it does require is information on the specialist certifying the system or product, so a specialist technically backing the application is needed. The substantive criterion is a single written one: compliance with the Building Code in force in Puerto Rico.

• General information on the system or product, plus its specifications.Verified against the official source
• That the system or product comply with the Building Code in force in Puerto Rico.Verified against the official source
• Information on the specialist certifying the system or product.Verified against the official source

• Technical specifications of the system, in PDF or MS Word.
• Structural calculations of the system, in PDF or MS Word.
• Construction tests, in PDF or MS Word.
• Certification of compliance with the building code, in PDF. It is mandatory.
• Certification of the system or product provided by another jurisdiction or recognised authority, in PDF.

1. 1

   Step 1: Check this is your filing and not the $50 one

   OGPe has two approvals whose descriptions match almost word for word and whose prices differ thirtyfold. The Renewable Energy Equipment Certification (CER) certifies that equipment meets the minimum quality and standards demanded by current regulation for use in installations in Puerto Rico, and costs $50 for new equipment. The System or Product Approval (ASP) certifies that a system or product meets the minimum quality and standards demanded by the current Building Code, and costs $1,500. If yours is panels, inverters, batteries, charge controllers, wind turbines or solar heaters, your filing is the CER. If yours is a system or product measured against the Building Code, it is the ASP.

2. 2

   Step 2: Look for whether the product is already approved elsewhere

   The fifth document on the list is the certification of the system or product provided by another jurisdiction or recognised authority. If the product has already passed an evaluation elsewhere — another state, another country, a recognised body — that certification goes into the file and is probably the strongest thing you can present. Obtain it before commissioning fresh testing.

3. 3

   Step 3: Gather the technical side: specifications, calculations and tests

   The technical file is three pieces: the system’s technical specifications, the system’s structural calculations and the construction tests, all accepted in PDF or MS Word. To that is added the certification of compliance with the building code, which the manual marks as mandatory, and the information on the specialist certifying the system or product. Without a specialist there is nobody to sign compliance, and without signed compliance there is no approval.

4. 4

   Step 4: Budget $1,500 in filing fees and thirty days on the clock

   The filing cost for a system or product approval application is $1,500. It is the highest fee among the OGPe filings covered on this site, and it does not include the cost of producing the technical file. Separately the clock runs: the service application will remain open for a maximum term of thirty days to complete it, and once that term passes without completion or without all required documents uploaded, the process must begin again. With a file this size, that term is easily lost if you open the application before the documents are ready.

The System or Product Approval is filed in OGPe’s Single Business Portal. The applicant manual is published in the Information Sources section of permisos.pr.gov, alongside the rest of the filing manuals.

• Filing a $1,500 ASP for renewable energy equipment, whose filing is the $50 CER.
• Budgeting only the filing fee: tests, calculations and the specialist are separate.
• Opening the application before the technical file is ready and losing the thirty-day term.
• Filing without the certification of compliance with the building code, which is mandatory.
• Not supplying the product certification from another jurisdiction when one exists.
• Simply accepting that a product “is not approved” without checking whether someone has already obtained approval.
• Confusing product approval with a construction permit: it approves the system, not the works.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Oficina de Gerencia de Permisos (OGPe)

  OGPe

  docs.pr.gov

• OGPe Information Sources: Single Business Portal filing manuals

  ogpe

  www.permisos.pr.gov