Esta ley enmienda la Ley Núm. 18 de 1 de enero de 2003 para aclarar su efectividad y hacerla retroactiva al 14 de enero de 2000. El propósito es eliminar los efectos perjudiciales de la Ley Núm. 32 de 14 de enero de 2000, que permitía la incautación de bienes incluso si el acusado era absuelto o no se encontraba causa probable, lo cual se consideraba inconstitucional.
(Approved on January 9, 2004)
To amend Section 2 of Act No. 18 of January 1, 2003, in order to clarify the effectiveness of said Act, so that the same is retroactive.
Act No. 32 of January 14, 2000, was approved with the purpose of adding a subsection "C" to Section 2 of Act No. 93 of July 13, 1988, as amended, known as the "Uniform Seizure Act of 1988." Said subsection established that " $[t]$ he outcome favorable to the accused or the imputed person in any of the stages of the criminal action shall not be an impediment for seizure, nor shall it have the effect of res judicata on the civil action of seizure even if it is based on facts imputed in the criminal action."
Section 2 (C) of Act No. 32, supra, caused a countless number of controversies in cases where seizure was challenged, in which probable cause against accused not found in the preliminary hearing or was acquitted on the merits, or the evidence is suppressed. On many occasions, be property seized had no relation with the crime charged. This breaches the principle which establishes that for property to be seized, in compliance with due process of law, the Commonwealth must show that the seized property was used in a criminal activity. See, Del Toro Lugo v. E.L.A., 136 D.P.R. 973 (1994).
However, this Legislature aware of constitutional inconsistencies in the subsection cited, approved Act No. 18 of January 1, 2003.
The purpose of Act No. 18, supra, was to correct this situation by eliminating subsection (C) from Section 2, supra, to harmonize it with the constitutional laws in effect and renumbered subsection (D) as the new subsection (C).
However, it is imperative to clarify that the intention of this Legislature, upon approving Act No. 18, supra, was to repeal any detrimental effect caused by Act No. 32, supra, on the people's constitutional rights. That is, for all juridical purposes, such amendment never existed. Thus, obviously, it shall be applicable to any judicial or administrative procedure that has not become firm and final at the time of the approval of this Act.
For the foregoing reasons, this Legislature has the obligation to amend the effectiveness of Act No. 18, supra, to make it retroactive to January 14, 2000.
Section 1.- Section 2 of Act No. 18 of January 1, 2003, is hereby amended to read a follows: "Section 1.- ... Section 2.- This Act shall take effect immediately after its approval and shall be retroactive to January 14, 2000.
Section 2.- This Act shall take effect immediately after its approval.
I hereby certify to the Secretary of State that the following Act No. 43 (H.B. 4007) of the $6^{ ext {th }}$ Session of the $14^{ ext {th }}$ Legislature of Puerto Rico:
AN ACT to amend Section 2 of Act No. 18 of January 1, 2003, in order to clarify the effectiveness of said Act, so that the same is retroactive, has been translated from Spanish to English and that the English version is correct.
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, today $19^{ ext {th }}$ of September of 2005.
Francisco J. Domenech Director