Esta ley crea la Asociación de Ópticos de Puerto Rico, definiendo sus funciones, facultades y responsabilidades. Establece los requisitos para ser miembro, la estructura de la Junta de Directores, la adopción de reglamentos y cuotas. Autoriza a la Asociación a presentar recursos legales y establece penalidades por infracciones. Busca agrupar a los ópticos licenciados para proteger sus intereses y la salud de los consumidores, abordando la práctica ilegal de la profesión.
| (H. B. 1846) | |
|---|---|
| (No. 245) | |
| (Approved September 3, 2003) | |
| AN ACT |
To create the Opticians Association of Puerto Rico; to define its functions, faculties, powers and responsibilities; to determine who qualifies to be a member of the Association; on the first General Assembly, the constitution of the Board of Directors and the election of same; to authorize the adoption of regulations, to authorize the setting of membership fees and the requirements for making decisions; to authorize the filing of orders of injunction requests, writs of inhibition y and other legal recourses before the courts; to establish penalties for infringements against this Act; and for other purposes.
Our people's visual health depends upon the knowledge of a group of professionals specialized in this field, among which are opticians. These professionals are knowledgeable and experienced in scientific techniques for the preparation and dispensing of lenses, spectacles and eyeglasses, among others, by means of written prescriptions issued by ophthalmologists or optometrists. Currently, there are over 638 licensed opticians on the Island.
In the last few years, new techniques and concepts have been developed in ophthalmic optics field. Thus, a very broad professional training is required at present for compliance with the rules of quality and excellence in the performance of the duties of the profession. For such purposes, accrediting agencies in the field of ophthalmic optics in the United States now require optics services to be performed by duly qualified, licensed and registered opticians.
However, in spite of the acknowledgement and importance of said professionals in the visual health field, in Puerto Rico there still are countless offices, stores and optics production shops managed and tended by persons that are neither duly qualified nor authorized by a license issued by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. This situation adversely affects the rendering of these services and consumer protection.
The intent of this Act is to group all Puerto Rico opticians under the protection of an Association that shall oversee the best interests and performance of opticians, as well as the health and well being of the consumers of these services.
Section 1.- This Act shall be known as the "Opticians Association of Puerto Rico Act."
Section 2.- For the purposes of this Act, the terms herein below shall have the following meanings: a. "Association" - The Opticians Association of Puerto Rico created by means of this Act. b. "Optician" - Person dedicated to the preparation of ophthalmic lenses with or without focus, spectacles, and accessories thereof by means of written prescriptions issued by ophthalmologists and optometrists duly authorized to practice their profession, and according to such written prescriptions, measures the facial contours of the patient or client bearing the prescription of the ophthalmologist or optometrist to shape, polish, cut and mount ophthalmic lenses to determine the size and shape of the frames and lenses that better suit the physical needs
of such patient or client. The optician also makes duplicates and does repairs and repetitions of lenses without requiring a new prescription. c. "Optics Practice" - It shall be understood that any natural person engaged in the practice of optics is that who announces the practice of the preparation of ophthalmic lenses with or without focus, spectacles, eyeglasses or duplicates of lenses or eyeglasses, measures the facial contours of the patient or client bearing the prescription of the ophthalmologist or optometrist to determine the size and shape of the frames and lenses that better suit the physical needs of such patient or client, and shapes, polishes, cuts and mounts ophthalmic lenses, and who opens or maintains an optics establishment, office or production shop for said purposes; provided, however, that all establishments, offices or shops that comply with the dispositions and regulations herein may announce and sell to the public ophthalmic lenses and/or eyeglasses, with or without focus. d. "Board of Directors" - Board of Directors of the Opticians Association of Puerto Rico which is hereby created by means of this Act. e. "Board of Examiners " - The Board of Examiners of Opticians. f. "Regulation" - The regulations, norms and statutes of the Opticians Association of Puerto Rico, adopted pursuant to this Act.
Section 3.- Those persons authorized to practice the profession of Optician in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico are hereby constituted as a juridical entity or quasi public corporation under the name of Opticians Association of Puerto Rico, with headquarters in the city of San Juan, as long as it is so approved by the majority of same in a referendum, as set forth further on within this Act.
Section 4.- The Opticians Association of Puerto Rico shall have the following powers:
a) To perpetually subsist under said name, to sue and be sued as a juridical person, to be the representing voice or instrument of the professional Opticians of Puerto Rico, by all legal means and regarding all matters over which it wishes to express itself, including appearing as amicus curiae before courts and public agencies. b) To bind itself legally, as well as to acquire rights and goods, both movable and immovable, by donation, legacy, tribute among its own members, purchase, or any other legal means, and to mortgage, sell, transfer and dispose of same in any legal manner and form. c) To elect the members of its Board of Directors and designate its functionaries and officers. d) To designate the office personnel that shall manage the operation of the Association, as well as to contract the services of a legal advisor. e) To draft and adopt regulations that shall be compulsory for all the members, as adopted and implemented by the Assembly that shall be constituted for their approval, or otherwise instead of said Assembly, as drafted and implemented by the Board of Directors to be set forth herein further on; as well as to amend said regulations in the manner and under the requirements instituted within same. f) To adopt and use a seal. g) To offer safety to its members by means of the creation or adoption of a mutual protection plan, friendly societies or charitable funds, pensions or retirement plans, or by any other means to provide for needy members or those who are forced to retire due to physical
disabilities or advanced age, the widow or widower and dependents of those who die, prior evidence to the satisfaction of the Association that said survivors are truly bereft. h) To protect the public interest and the members receiving or investigating of its own accord any grievances or matters on problems pertaining to the profession, such as allegations of improper conduct or breaches of ethical principles, on disagreements that may arise between opticians and patients, or between opticians, or between opticians and others regarding the optician, the materials, en Puerto Rico. The Association shall refer the grievances that are submitted to it along with its recommendations to the Board of Examiners for the latter to dispose upon as set forth by law. i) To exercise the incidental faculties necessary and convenient pursuant to its creation and subsequent maintenance and operations. j) To investigate motu proprio at the request of any member, natural or juridical person, or establishment dedicated to the optics service that incur in violations against the practice of optics, pursuant to the legislation in effect.
Section 5.- After the first General Assembly constituting the Association is held, any optician who is not a member of the Association may practice the profession of optician in Puerto Rico.
Section 6.- Those persons to whom the Board of Examiners of Opticians of Puerto Rico issues a license for the practice of the optician profession in Puerto Rico shall be members of the Association.
Section 7.- First, the resolutions and valid agreements of the General Assembly and second, the valid agreements and decisions of its Board of
Directors shall govern the destiny and decisions of the Association in all matters that, by regulation, are not within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Assembly and which are within the general and incidental sphere of the ministerial administrative powers and functions which generally concern the Board of Directors.
Section 8.- The Board of Directors of the Association shall consist of a President, a Vice-President, one Secretary, one Treasurer, and also, one representative from each of the Senate Districts of Puerto Rico Puerto Rico. These officers shall remain in office for a term of two years. The immediately previous president of the Association shall be a member of the Board of Directors until such a time as he is replaced by the next salient president. An optician shall be elected by majority vote in a General Assembly to occupy said office among the members of the Board of Directors, solely for the first Board of Directors, because at this time there is yet no ex-president.
Section 9.- The President and the Vice-President shall be elected according to the procedure the Association sets forth by regulation. The remaining members of the Board of Directors shall be elected by the General Assembly.
Section 10.- A regulation shall hereby be created to govern matters that are not included herein, such as: the responsibilities and procedures of all organisms and officers of the Association; convocations, dates, quorum, procedures and requirements of ordinary and extraordinary assemblies and sessions of the Board of Directors, election of directors and officers, commissions and committees, budget and investment of funds, disposition of the assets of the Association; creation of positions and methods for filling
them. The regulation shall also provide for the Association to hold an ordinary assembly annually.
Section 11.- The annual membership fee of the Association shall be set by majority vote in the Constitutional Assembly provided in this Act. This membership fee may be varied from time to time if so provided by a majority of two thirds (2/3) of the members attending an assembly held for such purposes.
The minimum quorum for changing the membership fee shall be wet forth by the regulation, and shall not be less than one fourth (1/4) of the total active members.
Section 12.- Any member who ceases to exercise the profession of optician to engage in other activities, retire from professional practice, or to leave Puerto Rico shall continue to be a member of the Association by means of the provisions set forth in this Act or may otherwise submit a request to cease to be a member to the Board of Directors. Any member who chooses said potion shall not be bound to pay membership fees during the term of voluntary inactivity, but neither shall same exercise the profession nor enjoy the Association membership benefits.
The member shall also notify the Board of Examiners including a copy of the inactivation notice and request for the license to be likewise inactivated during the same term, and said member shall not be able to return to the exercise of the profession nor to the membership until said license is reactivated and the required memberships are paid. There shall be no effectiveness from any inactivation request which has not been sent to notify the Board of Examiners.
Section 13.- Lack of payment of the annual membership fee by any member by the final due date for such payment set forth in the regulation shall entail the suspension of said Association membership and of the license for the exercise of the optics profession, which shall be decreed by the Board of Examiners at the request of the Association. The procedure for such suspensions shall be set forth by means of regulation by the Board of Examiners and the final decision of the Board of Examiners may be legally reviewed by the party adversely affected, pursuant to the dispositions provided herein.
For the term of the suspension, the person may not exercise the optics profession, even if qualified to do so with respect to all other matters as a member of the Association. However, the Board of Examiners shall totally reinstate the person, once all payments due at the date of the suspension are made. Provisional or permanent suspensions that are final and firm, decreed against an optician by the Board of Examiners for the causes provided herein shall entail an automatic suspension of the optician as a member of the Association for the duration of the suspension decreed by said Board of Examiners.
Section 14.- The Association shall request from the corresponding court an injunction, writ of inhibition, or any other pertinent recourse to cease and desist from acts or practices contrary to the purposes provided herein, or which are prejudicial or in violation of its dispositions or the determination of suspension of license for the practice of the optics profession decreed by the Board of Examiners.
The Association shall file, without need for bonds, the appropriate action at the corresponding court against any person who, without a valid optician
license issued by the Board of Examiners, practices the optician profession within this jurisdiction, as well as against any optician who, in spite of having been suspended from the practice of the profession by the Board of Examiners, pursuant to and by any of the causes imposed by law, attempts to continue, or in effect does continue practicing the optician profession. Such an order to cease and desist shall also be requested and made extensive and applicable to any person, partner, partnership, employer, corporation, organism, cooperative, instrumentality and entity, and to agents and employees thereof, who under any agreement have been using or intend to use, or avail themselves of a suspended or unlicensed optician, as well as of persons who are not opticians and do not have a valid license for the exercise of the profession, for same to immediately abstain or cease and desist from such a practice.
The Association may opt for the use of the services of its legal advisor, or may contract private legal representation when deemed necessary for same to represent it in this type of legal action.
Section 15.- The Association shall have, without being limited to, the following powers y responsibilities:
a) To maximize it s efforts to enhance the honor and dignity of the optics profession, and to disclose, increase and honor said image by all means within its reach. b) To contribute to the permanence, progress and furtherance of the optics profession in Puerto Rico, as well as of those crafts and industries related to same, and to publish and circulate newspapers, magazines, books, articles and printed material, and prepare or
sponsor and present programs about optics utilizing any of the existing communications media. c) To give orientations to the citizenry about the optics profession. d) To render the reports and advice requested by the Government and cooperate with the municipal, state and federal governments and their agencies, public instrumentalities and regulating organisms in all matters pertaining to optics that are of mutual interest or to the benefit of the public in general. e) To protect the optics profession and opticians, defending their rights and challenging all acts that are detrimental to the profession, including resorting to the courts against those persons natural or juridical who are responsible for or originate such acts, and to intervene, if deemed appropriate, in those matters pertaining to the optics profession, or with opticians who warrant the participation of the Board of Directors, according to the latter. f) To promote good relations among its members, with the entities and associations of other professions. g) To establish the headquarters of the Opticians Association of Puerto Rico. h) To arrange for the offering of study programs and continued education courses for its members with accredited universities. Such courses shall have the endorsement of the Board of Examiners. i) To obtain group life insurance policies, health insurance, retirement, pension and disability plans in behalf of its members. j) To further legislation or arrange for amendments to the legislation that governs admissions to and the practice of optics in Puerto Rico, and to
oversee that said legislation continues to promote the progress and development of the optics profession and practice. k) To maintain a high level of professionalism and professional ethics among the members, and to denounce any devious practice of the optics profession.
Section 16.- The Opticians Association of Puerto Rico is hereby created as a non-profit entity and shall be the representative organism of the optics profession and of all licensed opticians authorized to practice the profession in Puerto Rico, and as such, shall be exempt from the payment of any taxes, municipal license fees, excise taxes and any other type of taxation within this jurisdiction.
Section 17.- Any person who practices the optician profession without being duly enrolled as a member of the Opticians Association, or who having been so, has provisionally or permanently lost the membership, shall incur in the offense of illegal practice of the optician profession enacted herein.
Section 18.- Opticians shall be entitled to object the use made by the Association of their contributions to produce ideological activities. For such purposes, the Opticians Association shall structure a procedure to be followed, by means of regulation, within the applicable constitutional parameters.
Section 19.- Within thirty (30) days after this Act takes effect, and for the indicated purpose, the Board of Examiners shall name a Referendum Committee comprised by fifteen (15) members who are opticians, with representation from all Senate Districts of Puerto Rico.
The Referendum Committee shall be chaired by the President of the Board of Examiners and shall have the main duties of giving orientation to
all opticians regarding the referendum, its motives and consequences, and of holding same pursuant to the provisions herein. The Referendum Committee shall design and adopt mechanisms, regulations, ballots and procedures deemed necessary for consultation and scrutiny. The Referendum Committee shall be supervised in all functions by the Board of Examiners, and its decisions shall be final.
Upon the designation of the Referendum Committee, the Board of Examiners shall provide said Committee with a list including the name, address and license number of each optician authorized to practice the profession in Puerto Rico and entitled to membership in the Association. Within forty-five (45) days after its designation, the Referendum Committee shall proceed to consult said opticians by certified mail with copy through regular mail for the referendum to be held pursuant to this Section. The consultation of each optician shall enclose a copy of this Act. In addition, the consultation of each optician shall be preceded by the publication of a notification stating that the referendum shall be held and for which purpose. Said publication shall be issued on at last two (2), occasions, in one (1) newspaper of general circulation in Puerto Rico. Only replies received within thirty (30) days from the publication of the last notification of the holding of the referendum and its purposes shall be valid and scrutinized. The replies shall only be affirmative or negative rather than conditional, and shall be written and signed, indicating the license number, by the consulted member on the ballot. The ballots shall be delivered by hand or sent by mail to the Referendum Committee at the address indicated by same on the ballot, and shall be subject to the free inspection of any optician who requests to do so from the Referendum Commission, under whose custody said ballots shall
remain until the first meeting of the Constitution Assembly in the event of an affirmative result for the association, or until such a date as set forth by regulation in the event of a negative result.
For the approval of compulsory membership, the affirmative vote of one half plus one of the opticians authorized to practice the optics profession in Puerto Rico is hereby required. After the scrutiny by the Referendum Committee concludes, it shall remit the results in writing to the Governor of Puerto Rico and to the Board of Examiners. The Referendum Committee is hereby authorized to receive donations to defray the expenses of the referendum set forth herein.
Section 20.- If the results of the Referendum provided herein are not affirmative, the Committee referenced in the previous Section shall then become the Convocations Committee of the Constitution Assembly of the Opticians Association of Puerto Rico. As such, and within thirty (30) days after issuing the notification provided in the previous Section, it shall convene by certified mail all the opticians that to that date are entitled to become members of the Association to the Constitution Assembly for the purpose of electing the first Board of Directors of the Association, and to dispose on the regulation of the institution being created. The Constitution Assembly shall be held fifteen (15) days after the publication of the referenced convocation in two (2) newspapers of general circulation in Puerto Rico. If those attending said Constitution Assembly do not constitute a simple majority of fifty (50) percent plus one (1) of the opticians in Puerto Rico, said Assembly shall not be held; but those who attend may designate by majority the location and date for a new convocation, which shall be held
for the same purposes and in the same manner as the previous one, without allowing less than thirty (30) days to elapse between one and the other.
One fourth (1/4) of the opticians entitled to be members of the Association shall constitute quorum for the second Constitution Assembly, and the agreements adopted or actions taken by the majority of the attendees shall be valid. If quorum is not met on said second convocation, the Assembly shall not be held. However, the Referendum Committee shall provide the subsequent convocations to the Constitution Assembly and the quorum to be required thereof.
Section 21.- If any clause, paragraph, section or part of this Act were declared unconstitutional or void by a court with jurisdiction, said judgment shall neither affect nor nullify the remaining parts of this Act, and its effects shall be limited to the clause, paragraph, section or part of this Act declared unconstitutional or void.
Section 22. - This Act shall take effect immediately after its approval.
I hereby certify to the Secretary of State that the following Act No. 245 (H.B. 1846) of the $5^{ ext {th }}$ Session of the $14^{ ext {th }}$ Legislature of Puerto Rico:
AN ACT to create the Opticians Association of Puerto Rico; to define its functions, faculties, powers and responsibilities; to determine who qualifies to be a member of the Association; on the first General Assembly, the constitution of the Board of Directors and the election of same; to authorize the adoption of regulations, to authorize the setting of membership fees and the requirements for making decisions; to authorize the filing of orders of injunction requests, writs of inhibition y and other legal recourses before the courts; to establish penalties for infringements against this Act; and for other purposes, has been translated from Spanish to English and that the English version is correct.
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, today $23^{ ext {rd }}$ of August of 2004.
Elba Rosa Rodríguez-Fuentes Director