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Virtual data rooms in Puerto Rico

Virtual data rooms for Puerto Rico firms

Puerto Rico has 335 real estate offices, 950 accounting and tax firms, 1,195 law offices and 235 securities and investment firms with paid employees. Our read of its breach notice rule covers who counts as affected and the as-expeditiously-as-possible duty to customers. ShareAndGo is a virtual data room for the documents these firms share during deals, audits and legal matters.

The firms that share confidential documents in Puerto Rico

County Business Patterns counted 50,332 employer establishments in Puerto Rico in 2023, from Census's separate Puerto Rico files. Per 100,000 residents the island has 37.3 law offices, against 49.1 for the 50 states and DC combined, 29.7 accounting, tax, bookkeeping and payroll firms, against 40.7, and 10.5 offices of real estate agents and brokers, against 48.7.

These are mostly small businesses. 972 of the island's law offices and 188 of its securities and investment firms have fewer than five employees.

  • Offices of lawyers: 1,195
  • Accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll services: 950
  • Securities and investment firms: 235
  • Corporate and regional managing offices: 91
  • Offices of real estate agents and brokers: 335

Where those firms are

By municipio, San Juan leads with 559 law offices, ahead of Ponce (77), Guaynabo (69) and Mayagüez (45). Those four hold 63 percent of the island's total.

Our San Juan page goes through its figures in detail.

How Puerto Rico compares

The Census Bureau estimated Puerto Rico's population at 3,203,295 in July 2024, down 2.5 percent from the April 2020 base of 3,285,874.

Small offices make up 81 percent of the island's law offices, against 72 percent across the 50 states and DC.

Puerto Rico's breach notice rule

Puerto Rico's rule is Ley Núm. 111 of September 7, 2005, the Ley de Información al Ciudadano sobre la Seguridad de Bancos de Información, cited as 10 L.P.R.A. §§ 4051-4055.

Customers must be told "de la manera más expedita posible", which we read as "as expeditiously as possible". No fixed number of days applies to customers.

The regulator deadline is fixed. Responsible parties report to the Departamento de Asuntos del Consumidor (DACO) "dentro de un plazo improrrogable de diez (10) días de detectarse la violación", a ten-day period that cannot be extended.

When the breach happens at a government agency or public corporation, it goes to the Oficina del Procurador del Ciudadano.

No harm test, one encryption carve-out

Read in full, Ley 111 has no risk-of-harm exception, so the duty does not turn on an assessment of likely misuse.

Encryption does change the result: the duty attaches where the information "no estuviera protegida con claves criptográficas más allá de una contraseña", that is, where it was not protected by cryptographic keys beyond a password.

Our Puerto Rico breach notification page sets out the data elements and the rule in full, and says which text we checked. This is general information, not legal advice.

What a ShareAndGo room gives a Puerto Rico team

A business in San Juan or Mayagüez sharing payroll files, tax workpapers or medical records with an outside party can keep that exchange inside one room.

For documents you share through ShareAndGo, the activity log records every view and download, and watermarked view-only pages carry the reader's email address and the date.

That watermark is a per-room setting, on by default. Readers verify their email with a six-digit code and need no account, and each group sees only its own folders.

If questions come up later about a file opened there, the chained activity log can be exported as CSV and shows who opened what, and when.

The courts and regulators behind Puerto Rico paperwork

Federal cases from Puerto Rico are heard in the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. CPAs practicing in Puerto Rico are licensed by the Puerto Rico Board of Accountancy.

Locally, securities offerings and investment advisers in Puerto Rico come under the Oficina del Comisionado de Instituciones Financieras (OCIF).

Puerto Rico FAQ

How many law offices are there in Puerto Rico?
County Business Patterns 2023 counted 1,195 offices of lawyers with paid employees in Puerto Rico, 972 of them with fewer than five employees. San Juan has the most, 559.
Is there a deadline in days for telling customers?
No. The text says "de la manera más expedita posible", as expeditiously as possible, and sets no day count for customers.
How long does a business have to inform DACO?
Ten days from detecting the breach, and the period is described as "improrrogable", meaning it cannot be extended.
Do people I share documents with need an account?
No. Readers confirm their email with a six-digit code, with no account to create.

Puerto Rico metros

San Juan, PR

Data rooms for San Juan's 559 law offices and 309 accounting, tax, bookkeeping and payroll firms, with audit trails and view-only access.

Related

Puerto Rico data breach notification law

About the figures on our location pages