Which products fall under the price freeze

When a hurricane is coming and DACO freezes prices, the practical question in the hardware aisle is one: is this item in or out? This is the law that names it. It does not freeze prices on its own — another law does that — it tells DACO what must be capable of being frozen. The list is long and wider than people think: it includes installation services, not just the product.

There is nothing to qualify for: it is a list of products, not a benefit you apply for. What is worth understanding is the reach. Article 1 orders the items included “specifically, without being understood as limited,” so the enumeration is a floor and not a ceiling: something not appearing by name does not automatically mean it is out. And in several items the Act covers the service as well as the product — modification, repair and installation of storm shutters, generators and cisterns — which is exactly where the price tends to jump after an event.

Information pending verification.

Information pending verification.

1. 1

   Step 1: First, what this Act does and does not do

   Worth separating so you do not claim what does not apply. Act 131-2005 freezes no price: it orders that certain goods and services “be included specifically” among those susceptible to price freezing and fixing in emergency situations, and directs DACO to take “the corresponding regulatory steps.” The freeze itself, when it triggers and how big the fine is, live in another act this library covers separately. That is: an item being on this list does not mean its price is frozen today; it means it can be when a freeze is declared.

2. 2

   Step 2: To board up the house: shutters and everything that mounts them

   The first block on the list is about protecting the structure, and it carries something that surprises many people: it covers the work, not only the part. The Act names “storm shutters, services of modifying, repairing and installing storm shutters” and then the hardware needed to fit them: “screws, nuts, nails, expansion bolts, wooden panels, rope, tensioners and tools.” If you are overcharged to install your shutters mid-alert, that service is named in the Act.

3. 3

   Step 3: Generator and cistern: product, parts and service

   The two items whose prices rise most after a hurricane are named with the same triple reach. The Act includes “electric generators, running on gasoline, diesel or propane gas, equipment, parts, services of modifying, repairing and installing electric generators running on gasoline, diesel or propane gas” and, in parallel, “water cisterns, equipment, parts, services of modifying, repairing and installing water cisterns.” Product, parts and labour, for all three fuel types. It also adds “equipment, parts and fuel tanks for portable stoves,” “water storage tanks and containers” and “fuel storage tanks and containers.”

4. 4

   Step 4: What you buy to get through the days without service

   The daily-consumption block. The Act names “awnings and camping tents; also, batteries and flashlights of every kind and power chargers.” Note “of every kind”: it distinguishes neither size nor technology. And on food and drink: “water, ice, milk, coffee, all kinds of starchy staples and grains.” Starchy staples — root vegetables, flours — and grains, both “of all kinds.” Ice and coffee are named one by one, which is what you would expect in Puerto Rico.

5. 5

   Step 5: The personal-protection block, and who may widen it

   This item reads differently after the pandemic. The Act includes “personal protection and care equipment, such as: plastic gloves, rubber or latex gloves, medicinal bar soap, medicinal liquid soap, disinfectant liquid soap, disposable masks, aerosol disinfectant, disinfectant wipes, disposable wet wipes and antibacterial soap.” And it leaves a door open with a name on it: “among others, as may be so considered by the Secretary of the Department of Health, should it be deemed pertinent and necessary.” That is, the Secretary of Health may add items to that block.

6. 6

   Step 6: Since 2023, dog and cat food too

   It is a recent addition and worth knowing because many people assume their pet falls outside emergency lists. Joint Resolution 49-2023 orders the Secretary of DACO “to carry out all the administrative steps required … to declare and include dog and cat food as an article of first necessity in Puerto Rico,” and sets the public policy with an express duty: “when the Department of Consumer Affairs declares a freeze on prices or profit margins, it shall be obliged to include the food declared herein as part of that list.” Section 2 authorises amending the freeze regulation to achieve it.

7. 7

   Step 7: The phrase that opens the list, and why it matters

   Worth rereading how Article 1 begins: “It is ordered that there be included specifically, without being understood as limited, as first-necessity goods and services susceptible to price freezing and fixing in emergency situations, the following items or related services.” “Without being understood as limited” means the enumeration is a mandatory minimum, not a closed list. If the item you are worried about does not appear under that exact name, do not assume it is out: what to check is DACO’s regulation, which is where the operative list lives and which we did not read.

At the Department of Consumer Affairs (DACO), which both sources charge with taking the regulatory steps and which declares the freeze on prices or profit margins. The operative list in force is in its regulation, not in the Act. Neither source publishes a form, office, address or telephone, and we do not invent them.

• Believing the list freezes prices by itself: it names what can be frozen, and the freeze is declared under another act.
• Thinking it covers only products: the Act expressly names the services of modifying, repairing and installing storm shutters, generators and cisterns.
• Ruling an item out because it does not appear: the Act orders them included “without being understood as limited,” so the enumeration is a minimum.
• Assuming small batteries do not count: the Act says “batteries and flashlights of every kind.”
• Forgetting pet food: since JR 49-2023, DACO is obliged to include it when it declares a freeze.
• Looking for the frozen prices in the Act: they live in DACO’s regulation, not in the legal text.
• Believing the personal-protection block is closed: the Secretary of Health may consider other items within it.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Asuntos del Consumidor (DACO)

  DACO

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov

• Joint Resolution 49-2023, ordering dog and cat food included as an article of first necessity

  daco

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov