P.R. Laws tit. 23, § 481
For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms and phrases shall have the meaning stated below:
(a) Fund.— Means the non-lucrative corporation incorporated by the Cooperative Development Administrator pursuant to the General Corporations Law as provided in § 482 of this title.
(b) Cooperative.— Means any cooperative entity organized under the laws of the Commonwealth. This term includes the cooperative credit and savings unions organized under §§ 1361 et seq. of Title 7, or its successor law; it also includes subsidiary and/or affiliate entities or enterprises organized or owned by one or more cooperative credit and savings unions, organized or authorized to operate under §§ 1361 et seq. of Title 7, or its successor law; the insurance cooperatives organized under §§ 3401 et seq. of Title 26, or its successor law; the Cooperative Bank, organized under §§ 751 et seq. of Title 7, or its successor law; and diverse cooperatives, organized under Act No. 50 of August 4, 1994, as amended, or its successor law, that is, §§ 4381 et seq. of Title 5.
(c) Executive Director.— Means the executive officer responsible for the daily administration and operation of the Office of the Fund, who shall be appointed with the consent of ⅔ out of the total number of members of the Board of Directors and the approval of seven (7) out of the total ten (10) members of the Governing Board of the Cooperative Development Commission. Continuity in office shall require that such approval be ratified every three (3) years by the Governing Board.
(d) Eligible cooperative enterprise.— Means a cooperative group registered under applicable laws or an entity organized as a cooperative or as a subsidiary or affiliate of one or more cooperatives, which is related or whose purpose is to carry out economic activities in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, including:
(1) The manufacture, processing, assembling, or storing of goods and materials for sale or distribution.
(2) Mercantile or commercial enterprises.
(3) Service and transportation enterprises.
(4) Recreational, sports-recreational or tourism activities.
(5) Housing.
(6) Agricultural activities.
(7) Agricultural and livestock industries.
(8) Commercial fishery.
(9) Research or development activities.
(10) Elderly care and health related activities.
(11) Activities conducive to the integration of the Cooperative Movement, which encourage competitiveness among existing cooperatives or which have the potential to increase or reinforcing its economic or social activity.
(12) Other activities which generate economic activity and/or jobs as determined from time to time by the Board of Directors of the Fund.
(13) Other social or cultural development activities directed to young people.
(14) Any combinations of the abovementioned activities or purposes.
The Board of Directors of the Fund shall adopt, through bylaws, specific parameters to determine the eligibility of the Cooperative Enterprises, among which it may contemplate the generation of incremental economic activity. Provided, That such bylaws shall be consistent with the public policy set forth in this chapter and formulated by the Governing Board of the Puerto Rico Cooperative Development Commission.
(e) Board.— Means the Board of Directors of the Corporation.
(f) Costs.— Means all costs incurred in the acquisition or construction, or those otherwise incurred, to provide for the operations of any eligible cooperative enterprise. These shall include, but shall not be limited to: construction costs, cost of acquisition of any properties, including rights over land and any other property, real as well as personal, whether improved or not; costs of demolition, removal, and relocation of any buildings or structures on the land thus acquired, including the cost of acquisition of any land on which said buildings or structures could be transferred or relocated; cost of any machinery, furniture, and equipment; the payment or provision for the total or partial payment of any existing debt incurred by or [on] behalf of a debtor or user to provide funds for the payment of the costs of a project or projects; financing and any other charges, and interest accrued prior to or during the construction, and if deemed advisable by the Fund and for the period it may determine after the completion of the construction; reserves for debt service; or any other reserve required by the Fund; cost of studies, market analyses, surveys, plans and specifications; cost of financial and management consultants and advisors and any other special services and expenses necessary or incidental to determining the viability or practicability of the project; cost of management technical support services, including skill-building and training on operational, accounting, entrepreneurial, and other issues relative to the project; cost of the preparation, development, and refurbishment of land; initial cost for occupying the project or any part thereof; administrative expenses, as well as other expenses necessary or incidental to financing and establishing the Fund’s office and/or the project, including the reimbursement to any government agency or any debtor or user of any expenses incurred, with respect to said project, with the prior consent of the Fund, that would have been costs of the aforesaid project if the same had been directly incurred by the project, and any other administrative or financing charges or fees imposed by the Fund; and the payment or reimbursement to any debtor or user of the costs of a project incurred by said debtor or user prior to the closing date of the investment to be made by the Fund or by a financial institution, which has obtained resources from the Fund to finance projects, but said prior period shall not exceed the period determined by the Fund, which shall not exceed two (2) years. Costs shall also mean the operating expenses of the Office of the Fund.
(g) Investment agreement.— Shall mean the agreement or agreements made between the Fund and any eligible cooperative enterprise, whether directly or indirectly, with the purpose of providing financial resources by means of investment or long-term financing to subsidize the costs of the eligible cooperative enterprise; it shall also mean, without being understood as a limitation to: leasing contracts, sale in installment sales, purchase, conditional sale, sale of a leasing agreement, loans, mortgage, personal property lien, leasing, or any other financing contract or a combination of the above that the Fund may determine.
(h) Office of the Fund.— Shall mean the administrative and operating structure of the Corporation directed by an Executive Director.
History —Aug. 18, 2002, No. 198, § 3; Aug. 10, 2008, No. 247, § 25, eff. Feb. 1 2009.