Puerto Rico Office of the Commissioner of Insurance Partially Closed for Office Move

The Puerto Rico Office of the Commissioner of Insurance issued CIRCULAR LETTER NO.: CC-2019-1956 -D on November 12, 2019. This notice advised that the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance of Puerto Rico (OCI) will be closing during relocation of the office to San Juan, Puerto Rico. The OCI will be temporarily closed on November 14, 2019 through November 29, 2019 and resume normal operations on Monday, December 2, 2019 at its new location. During this period application processing times will be delayed. Applications submitted during this time through NIPR will be issued or renewed by OCI with the original submitted date. The circular was signed by Javier Rivera-Ríos, Commissioner of insurance.

 

Here is the wording from the Circular:

“Effective November 15, 2019, the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance of Puerto Rico, hereinafter “the OCI,” will relocate its facilities in the World Plaza building in Hato Rey. As part of the moving process, the relocation of our facilities will require the OCI to temporarily suspend operations for the general public for a short period of time, which will allow us to resume providing services normally as soon as possible. To meet this goal, a partial shutdown has been scheduled, during which the general public will not be received at our facilities from Thursday, November 14, until Friday, November 29, 2019. The OCI will resume normal operations on Monday December 2, 2019, on its regular schedule, from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm. The new street address of the OCI is the following:

 

Edificio World Plaza

268 Muñoz Rivera Ave.

San Juan, PR 00918

 

Accordingly, the applicable terms for filing documents or information related to impairment orders, examination reports, annual reports, admissions, mergers, forms and rates filings, license renewals, continuing education, requests for hearings, among others, that are due during the partial shutdown period will be moved up to December 2, 2019, the date on which the OCI will be receiving correspondence at the window.

 

Any applicable terms for the OCI, under the provisions of the Puerto Rico Insurance Code, for the evaluation and approval of forms and rates filings, authorization of insurers, approval of administration agreements, issuance and renewal of licenses, investigations, extensions of time, among others, will be interrupted as of November 14, 2019 and will resume as of December 2, 2019, the date on which the OCI will resume normal operations. The effect of all regular insurance licenses with an expiration date of November 30, 2019, will be extended up to December 13, 2019.”

 

For any questions regarding the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance of Puerto Rico’s relocation or any other regulatory compliance concerns, please contact Westmont Associates, Inc.