On April 7, 2020, Governor Wanda Vázquez-Garced issued Executive Order No. 2020-032 (“EO 2020-032”), mandating a total lockdown of all businesses in Puerto Rico effective this weekend from Friday, April 10^th until Sunday, April 12^th, 2020, with limited exceptions related to prepared food establishments (delivery/dry-through only), pharmacies, gas stations and elderly care centers.

EO 2020-32 amends Section 5 of the previously-enacted Executive Order 2020-29 from March 30, 2020 (“EO 2020-29”), which listed the type of businesses that were considered exempt from the mandated lockdown that would end on April 12, 2020. It is expected that the current lockdown ending on April 12, 2020 will be extended through another Executive Order to be issued by the Puerto Rico Governor in the next days.  Below, please find a summary of the amendment to EO 2020-029, regarding the exceptions to business closure to apply from April 10 to April 12, 2020.

Amendment to EO 2020-029 – Business Operations Restrictions

Section 5 of EO 2020-029, established that the following businesses were deemed exempted from the mandated lockdown, among other services provided in Section 6 and other sections of EO 2020-29:

 

(a) Retail sale of food, exclusively through carry-out or delivery, without allowing diners inside the establishment. These include prepared food, wholesale, supermarkets and those related to food distribution chains including animal feed.

(b) Medical drugs, medical items or equipment, and its distribution chain.

(c) Pharmacies.

(d) Gas stations and their distribution chains.

(e) Banking or Financial Institutions;

(f) Pawn shops (Note: while classified as financial institutions, these will only be able to provide the service for receipt of goods as a pawn and payment of debts, while serving one client at a time with security measures to prevent the COVID-19 spread and the sale of any goods or merchandise is prohibited.)

(g) Elderly-Care centers.

(h) Organizations that provide basic needs for economically disadvantage populations.

 

EO 2020-032 amends the above stated section, providing that from Friday, April 10 to Sunday, April 12, 2020, ALL COMMERCIAL BUSINESSES shall remain closed to the public with the exception of the following establishments under certain circumstances:

 

• Pharmacies, only to sell medicine and articles of personal hygiene;
• Gas stations, only to sell gas or medicine articles;
• Elderly- Care Centers, and;
• Organizations that that provide basic needs for economically disadvantage populations.

 

Regarding businesses that serve prepared food, these will remain closed to the public, and may only operate thru carry-out or delivery services. Kiosks and supermarkets, are to remain closed to the public, and can only operate to clean, disinfect and review its inventory. Distribution chain businesses may operate only to deliver and collect exempted merchandise under EO 2020-029.

Penalties for Non-compliance

The Department of Consumer Affairs (“DACO”, by its Spanish acronym) has issued orders to freeze prices concerning several products of basic need. Failure to comply with such order shall be subject to additional sanctions and fines upon those entities and/or persons who violate those businesses selling those products.

For any questions or inquiries regarding this topic do not hesitate to contact us at info@oneillborges.com or your prime contact attorney at O’Neill & Borges. Please refer to www.oneillborges.com.