Esta ley enmienda el Código de Seguros de Puerto Rico para permitir que las aseguradoras, organizaciones de servicios de salud y otros actores del sector utilicen sistemas de almacenamiento electrónico para preservar sus registros y documentos. La ley instruye al Comisionado de Seguros a regular las características de estos sistemas, la disposición de los documentos originales y las sanciones por incumplimiento.
(Approved March 22, 2003)
To add Section 2.161 to Chapter 2 of Act No. 77 of June 19, 1957, as amended, known as the "Insurance Code of Puerto Rico," to allow all insurers, health services organizations, rating organizations, advisory or service organisms, general agents, brokers, and adjusters to use the electronic storage system to preserve books, registers, and other documents related to the insurance business, as well as to instruct the Commissioner of Insurance of Puerto Rico to set forth, by means of regulation, the features of the electronic storage system, the disposition of the original documents to be stored electronically, and the sanctions for violations against the dispositions in this Act and its regulation.
Section 2.160 of the Insurance Code of Puerto Rico (the "Code") provides for every person being examined, its officers, employees, agents and representatives to produce and make freely accessible to the Commissioner or his examiners the accounts, records, documents, files, assets and matters in his possession or control relating to the subject of the examination.
Likewise, Section 3.300 of the Code provides for every insurer to keep full and accurate accounts and records of its assets, obligations, transactions, and affairs, with proper separation as to the different kinds of insurance transacted by it, in accordance with accounting methods and practices generally recognized in such business or approved by the Commissioner. All
such records and accounts shall be kept in such manner as to facilitate preparation of the required reports of the insurer, and of examination of the insurer's affairs by the Commissioner.
On the other hand, Section 9.360 of the Code provides for all agents, general agents, brokers or adjusters to keep at the place of business shown on his license, the usual and customary records pertaining to transactions under his license, together with such additional records as the Commissioner may reasonably require by rule or regulation, and shall, likewise, conserve the documents related thereto. This Section, which does not apply to life or disability insurance, also provides for all books and related documents as to any particular transaction to be available and accessible for inspection by the Commissioner at any business time during the five (5) years immediately following the date of completion of such transaction, unless a shorter period is allowed to a particular class of records by regulation promulgated by the Commissioner.
Implicit in all said dispositions is the obligation of the insurers, health service organizations, agents, general agents, brokers, adjusters, rating organizations, and advisory or service organisms to keep all their accounts, books, files, and documents related to the insurance business, in an easily accessible format, for the inspection of the Commissioner.
This measure shall apply to insurers, health services organizations, agents, general agents, brokers, adjusters, rating organizations, and advisory or service organisms, and shall allow same to keep the books, registers, or other documents required by the Code by means of the use of an electronic storage system.
An electronic storage system is a system for the preparation, registration, transfer, listing, storage, preservation, recovery and reproduction of documents by any of the three following methods:
This Legislature, aware of technological advances, and for the purpose of reducing the administrative costs incurred by the insurance industry due to the storage of its books, registers, and other documents required by Law, adds the referenced Article to the dispositions contained in Chapter 2 of the Insurance Code of Puerto Rico, pertaining to the storage of such documents, to allow them to comply with their obligation by means of the use of electronic storage methods. Likewise, it instructs the Insurance Commissioner of Puerto Rico to be the one who sets forth, by means of regulation, the features of the electronic storage system to be used by the industry, the manner in which the system and the information contained within same shall be inspected, as well as the disposition of the original documents and the sanctions to be imposed upon the regulated entities for noncompliance with any of the dispositions set forth in this Act, or its regulation. While preparing the Regulation, the Insurance Commissioner
shall take into consideration both the benefits offered by this type of technology to the insurance industry and the reliability and guarantees that must be offered to insurance consumers.
Section 1.- Section 2.161 is hereby added to Chapter 2 of Act No. 77 of June 19, 1957, as amended, to read as follows: "Section 2.161.-Preservation of Documents (1) All insurers, health service organizations, rating organizations, advisory or service organisms, general agents, agents, brokers, and adjusters shall maintain their account books, registers, and all documents pertaining to their insurance business for the time and in the manner set forth by the Commissioner by means of regulation. (2) All insurers, health service organizations, rating organizations, advisory or service organisms, general agents, agents, brokers, and adjusters shall maintain their account books, registers, and all documents pertaining to their insurance business by means of the use of electronic storage systems, pursuant to the guidelines set forth for said purposes by the Commissioner by means of regulation."
Section 2.-Sixty (60) days after the approval of this Act, the Insurance Commissioner shall issue a regulation to set forth the dispositions regarding the features of the electronic storage system to be used, as well as on the disposition of the original documents, the protection of the confidential information of the insurers, and the sanctions to be imposed upon the
regulated for noncompliance with any of the dispositions set forth in this Act or its regulation.
Section 3.-This Act shall take effect sixty (60) days after the approval of the regulation set forth in the abovementioned Section 2.
I hereby certify to the Secretary of State that the following Act No. 89 (H.B. 3062) of the $5^{ ext {th }}$ Session of the $14^{ ext {th }}$ Legislature of Puerto Rico:
AN ACT to add Section 2.161 to Chapter 2 of Act No. 77 of June 19, 1957, as amended, known as the "Insurance Code of Puerto Rico," to allow all insurers, health services organizations, rating organizations, advisory or service organisms, general agents, brokers, and adjusters to use the electronic storage system to preserve books, registers, and other documents related to the insurance business, as well as to instruct the Commissioner of Insurance of Puerto Rico to set forth, etc., has been translated from Spanish to English and that the English version is correct.
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, today $25^{ ext {th }}$ of February of 2004.
Elba Rosa Rodríguez-Fuentes Director