(H. B. 651) (No. 238) (Approved September 3, 2003) AN ACT To add Sections 2-A and 2-B to Act No. 60 of June 19, 1964, as amended, to specify the parameters and characteristics of Puerto Rican gourmet coffee for both its local and international marketing, and to guarantee its advertised high quality, maintain its prestige, and broaden its distribution market into worldwide levels. STATEMENT OF MOTIVES Within the context of the global economy, agriculture on our Island has evolved in its historic trajectory with regard to its orientation. Through the years, some businesses have replaced others, some have disappeared almost completely, and others hardly break even on the basis of costly government subsidies. However, the Puerto Rican coffee industry has prevailed for more than two hundred years, in spite of the diverse problems it has faced. Although it has had its ups and downs, coffee predominates in the mountains. It is the only sector among the large traditional crops that has been able to maintain total production levels that are comparable to those of its times of highest activity, since it ranks as number one in economic importance among them. The coffee industry generates around sixty million (60,000,000) dollars annually to the agricultural sector, followed by the farinaceous products.
About 11,000 farmers and around 15,000 farm workers benefit from the coffee industry, which supports the economic development of around 25 municipalities in the mountainous region of Puerto Rico. It is also a source of employment for nearly 250 employers and around 20 coffee roasting companies in its processing, manufacturing and marketing phases. This represents approximately twenty-one (21) percent of our agricultural employment. Puerto Rican coffee achieved consumer preference in the Vatican in the past, and continues to be one of the most highly rated coffees in the world. Currently, the production and processing of gourmet coffee has made favorable inroads in select export markets such as Japan, Israel, Europe and the United States. Annually, between 6,000 to 7,000 hundredweight of locally produced coffee, with excellent coffee bean selection, harvesting, roasting and grinding, are dedicated to satisfy this export market. At present, those enterprises that are dedicated to the coffee industry intend to expand the preference and consumption of fine (gourmet) coffee through new distribution and promotion strategies, in which the product is positioned as coffee for very special occasions or Sundays, selling at a higher price than the regular type, in the main supermarket chains and in gourmet food stores, in Puerto Rico. This bill intends to amend Act No. 60 of June 19, 1964, as amended, which, among other things, requires adequate labeling for the container of coffee marketed in Puerto Rico in order to establish the requirements for marketing coffee labeled as Fine or Specialty coffee in Puerto Rico and abroad, thus guaranteeing the high quality of the coffee advertised and distributed as such. It also intends to protect the consumer, by offering
certain qualities and parameters to create specific conditions that can avoid confusion, and thus increase the consumption of coffee in Puerto Rico. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF PUERTO RICO: Section 1.- Sections 2-A and 2-B are hereby added to Act No. 60 of June 19, 1964, as amended, to read as follows: Section 2-A.- It is hereby prohibited to sell in Puerto Rico or abroad, coffee labeled as Fine or Specialty as primary names, and Gourmet, Special or State as secondary names, or with any other name which may be generalized in the future, and whose meaning is similar or equivalent to these, unless the following conditions and specifications are met: (a) Class 1 (1) Names to be used: (i) Primary: Fine or Specialty (ii) Secondary: Gourmet, Special or State (2) Size of the Coffee Bean: Not more than (5) percent of the beans shall be smaller than the specified (screen) size, nor five (5) percent of the beans larger than the specified size. (3) Cup Characteristics: Must show a distinctive attribute in one or more of the following areas: taste, acidity, body or aroma. Must be free of cup faults and defects. (4) Roasting: No green beans or Quakers. (5) Moisture content: From nine (9) to thirteen (13) percent. (6) Defects: For the purposes of this Section, the following shall be understood as defects:
(i) Primary Defects: (I) Full Black (II) Full Sour (III) Pod/Cherry (IV) Long and Medium Stones (V) Long and Medium Stems (ii) Secondary Defects: (I) Parchment (II) Hull/Husk (III) Broken, chipped or scratched beans (IV) Insect Damage (V) Partial Black (VI) Partial Sour (VII) Light, or Floaters (VIII) Shells (IX) Small Stones (X) Smalls terms (XI) Water Damage Coffee must be free of foreign matter, as well as any foreign odors, even when not included in the list of primary and secondary defects. Section 2-B.- In addition to the conditions and parameters stated above in Section 2-A, the Secretary of Agriculture may provide, through
regulations, others established by any entity recognized worldwide as a regulating body of the coffee business global market. The Secretary of Agriculture shall establish, through regulations, the parameters for the classification of Fine or Specialty coffee for the obtaining of samples and determination of bean size to analyze and classify the coffee according to its quality, as well as for the evaluation of the defects indicated above, using as a basis the rules established by any entity recognized globally as a regulating body of the fine coffee business. The specifications and attributes indicated in this, and the previous Section must be certified by a bona fide coffee tasting laboratory, recognized by the Secretary of Agriculture. The Secretary of Agriculture shall adopt the necessary regulations to put in effect the provisions of this Act. Section 2.- This Act shall take effect immediately after its approval.
CERTIFICATION I hereby certify to the Secretary of State that the following Act No. 238 (H.B. 651) of the 5 th Session of the 14 th Legislature of Puerto Rico: AN ACT to add Sections 2-A and 2-B to Act No. 60 of June 19, 1964, as amended, to specify the parameters and characteristics of Puerto Rican gourmet coffee for both its local and international marketing, and to guarantee its advertised high quality, maintain its prestige, and broaden its distribution market into worldwide levels, has been translated from Spanish to English and that the English version is correct. In San Juan, Puerto Rico, today 30 th of September of 2004. Elba Rosa Rodríguez-Fuentes Director