Selling metal for recycling: what the law requires

This is the Act behind everything you are asked for when you arrive at a recycling centre with copper, aluminium or a catalytic converter: the photo ID, the question about where the material came from, the cheque instead of cash. It is not the merchant being difficult. The Act exists because metal theft in Puerto Rico takes power cables, water pipes, manhole covers and catalytic converters, and the way it was attacked was to make every pound sold get logged in a Police electronic register within twenty-four hours. It serves two readers: whoever is going to sell, who needs to know what will be demanded and why; and whoever runs the business, who needs to know what to record, what hours they may open and what happens if they do not comply.

On the seller’s side, Article 2 sets two conditions and the second surprises many people. First: prove you are the owner of the metal or are authorised by its owner or representative. Second: hold a licence as Engineer, Expert Electrician, Master Plumber or Refrigeration Technician in order to sell material for reuse, resale, export or recycling. The exception is what makes the rule liveable: that professional licence is not required where aluminium cans or material of domestic origin are involved, provided the other requirements of Article 1 are met. On the business side, the Act reaches every natural or juridical person, owner, representative or person in charge of a workshop, shop, yard or motor vehicle dedicated wholly or partly to these activities with copper, aluminium, tin, platinum or lead. The motor vehicle is named on purpose: the itinerant buyer is covered too.

• Whoever sells must prove they own the metal or are authorised by its owner or representative (Article 2).Verified against the official source
• Whoever sells must hold a licence as Engineer, Expert Electrician, Master Plumber or Refrigeration Technician, save where aluminium cans or material of domestic origin are involved (Article 2).Verified against the official source
• The buyer must record each transaction in the Police Bureau’s electronic Register within a maximum term of twenty-four hours (Articles 1 and 3(b)).Verified against the official source
• Payment may not be made in cash: a cheque must be issued in the name of whoever delivers the metals, and may not be issued to cash (Article 1(f)).Verified against the official source
• These businesses may operate only from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. (Article 1-A, added by Act 53-2012).Verified against the official source
• The buyer must keep for five years all documentation supporting the information supplied to the Register (Article 3(b)).Verified against the official source

• A photocopy of a valid state-issued photo identification of whoever sells; failing that, a photo of that person must form part of the Register (Article 1(a)).
• Detailed and verifiable information on the metals’ origin, including the physical address of the place where obtained and the name of the business or entity, required of whoever sells or delivers (Article 1(e)).

1. 1

   Step 1: Which metals it covers and whom it reaches

   Article 1 names wires or materials of copper, aluminium, tin, platinum or lead, or a mixture or alloy of these, for recycling, resale, export or reuse purposes, in any form or state. And it reaches every natural or juridical person, owner, representative or person in charge of a workshop, shop, yard or motor vehicle dedicated wholly or partly to buying, selling, exchanging, depositing, collecting, storing, transporting or distributing those metals. If you operate itinerantly, Article 3(b) further requires you to detail the municipalities and the place where you carried out each transaction.

2. 2

   Step 2: What must be recorded, point by point

   Article 1 lists six items and it is worth having them complete, because Article 5 turns each omission into a basis for inferring you knew the metal was stolen. Recorded are: the name, address and official identification document number of whoever delivers, including their professional registration number, with a photocopy of a valid photo identification — and if they have none, a photo of them becomes part of the Register; the date and place of purchase; the plate number of the vehicle in which the metals were delivered and its description, make, model, colour and year; a legible and detailed description of the type of metal, whether wire, cable, bars, rods, panels, sheets, posts, catalytic converters, piping or any other object containing those metals or used to provide public services; detailed and verifiable information on the origin, including the physical address of the place where obtained and the name of the business or entity; and the price paid per pound of each metal, the total paid and the cheque number.

3. 3

   Step 3: Why they do not pay you in cash

   Because the Act prohibits it, in terms that leave no margin. Article 1(f) says “payment for the acquisition of the metals may not be made in cash, a cheque having to be issued. That cheque must be issued in the name of the person making the delivery and may not be issued to cash.” That is: a cheque, in your name, with its number recorded in the Register. If a centre offers you cash, it is putting you both in a transaction the Act does not permit.

4. 4

   Step 4: The twenty-four hours and the five years

   Two terms falling on the business. The first: every recycling, resale, export or reuse transaction is recorded in the Police Bureau’s electronic Register “within a maximum term of twenty-four (24) hours from when the transaction took place.” Article 3(c) requires the Bureau to keep that electronic Register available on its web portal for those obliged to file the information. The second: all documentation supporting the information supplied through that Register must be kept for a term of five years.

5. 5

   Step 5: The hours and the signage

   Two duties easy to overlook and both carrying criminal consequences. Article 1-A, added by Act 53-2012, limits operation: these businesses “may operate only from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.” And Article 1 requires keeping publicly and visibly displayed at all times the written, graphic, pictorial or electronic notices and warnings the Police supply — or produced at one’s own expense if the Police do not have them available — with examples of different types of metals in their original, altered or modified forms, and any other necessary technical or legal information. Operating outside hours and failing to display the notices are each a fourth-degree felony under Article 4.

6. 6

   Step 6: What may not be bought under any circumstances

   Article 9, added by Act 105-2007, carries three flat prohibitions. Buying recycling material not in its original form is prohibited; where cables are involved, they may not have melted or burnt sheathing, and to recycle burnt products one must prove not only the origin and the seller’s identity but how the material was destroyed and came to be in the state received — absent that proof, the Act draws the reasonable inference that it was unlawfully obtained and processed. Trading in copper, aluminium, tin or lead wires or materials lacking the outer protective covering that identifies and guarantees their origin and legality is prohibited. And receiving or storing dismantled or crashed vehicles, their parts and batteries is prohibited unless Act 125 of 1966, the Scrapyard Act, is complied with.

7. 7

   Step 7: What the Police do and what they may confiscate

   Article 3 allows inspection during working hours by any law enforcement officer, who must also inspect the place where the metals are stored and confront the Register against the existing inventory. That same article requires the Bureau to designate a Recycling Centre Inspection Coordinator, responsible for ensuring they are inspected at least every six months, on top of ordinary visits. Article 6 adds the power to confiscate the metals if the possessor or whoever claims ownership cannot produce proof of title, following the Uniform Confiscation Act: the Police may occupy for investigation for thirty days, and notice to interested persons is given within the forty days counted from the last day of that occupation; where stolen or missing metals are involved, notice must go to the true owner if their identity is known after reasonable effort. If title is justified, the confiscation is left without effect and the property returned by receipt. The Police also keep statistics of metal theft complaints by Police Region.

8. 8

   Step 8: The penalties, and why they rise so sharply for public services

   Article 4 tiers them. Failing to keep the Register or to record the required information, failing to supply it to the police station, failing to display the notices and warnings, and operating outside the permitted hours are each a fourth-degree felony. Recording or transmitting false information is a third-degree felony. Unlawfully appropriating another’s metals is a third-degree felony in its upper half, or a ten thousand dollar fine, or both, with mandatory restitution. And here is the jump: if the metals are public property, or being private were installed or used to provide or receive electricity, telecommunications, cable TV, drinking water or any other public service, the penalty rises to a second-degree felony or a twenty-five thousand dollar fine. For the merchant who buys knowing they were unlawfully obtained, the same scale, plus suspension or revocation of the licence, permit or authorisation for one year on a first offence and permanent revocation on recurrence.

9. 9

   Step 9: The eight signals the Act treats as suspicious

   Article 5, added by Act 105-2007, says from which circumstances it may be inferred that the accused knew the metals were unlawfully acquired: failing to record the name, address and official photo document of whoever delivered, or the date and place; failing to record the plate or the vehicle description, or the detailed description of the metal; failing to record the quantity or to specify whether they were wires, cables, rods, bars, panels, sheets, posts, catalytic converters or piping; the price paid being so derisory or the terms so advantageous that the acquirer reasonably should have concluded they were unlawfully obtained; the seller being a minor without the consent of their parents, guardians or custodians; the accused having reasonably been bound to know by their knowledge, experience, profession, work or trade; the acquisition being made outside the permitted hours, or in a place or from a person not authorised, or without duly identifying the parties; and their being acquired from a person connected with criminal activity in circumstances where a prudent and reasonable person should have known.

The Register is electronic and kept by the Police Bureau of Puerto Rico, which under Article 3(c) must keep it available on its web portal for those obliged to file the information. Inspections are carried out by any law enforcement officer, with a Recycling Centre Inspection Coordinator designated by the Bureau. The Act publishes no portal address or form, and we do not guess government internet addresses.

• Expecting to be paid in cash: the Act prohibits cash payment and requires a cheque in the name of whoever delivers the metals.
• Believing anyone may sell copper: Article 2 requires a licence as Engineer, Expert Electrician, Master Plumber or Refrigeration Technician, save for aluminium cans or material of domestic origin.
• Going without photo identification: if you have none, the Act requires a photo of you to become part of the Register.
• Thinking the question about origin is optional: Article 1(e) requires detailed and verifiable information, including the physical address of the place where obtained.
• Arriving at night: these businesses may operate only from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and operating outside those hours is a fourth-degree felony.
• Selling cable with burnt or melted sheathing: Article 9 prohibits it and creates an inference of illegality if it is not proven how it reached that state.
• Believing the itinerant buyer is outside the Act: it expressly names the motor vehicle and requires detailing municipalities and places.
• Underestimating the penalty when the metal comes from a public service: it rises to a second-degree felony or twenty-five thousand dollars.
• Throwing away the paperwork: supporting documentation for what was filed to the Register must be kept for five years.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Policía de Puerto Rico

  Policía de PR

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov