Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico has never had a bill.
- Status
- No bill yet. No compact legislation identified.
- Academy affiliate
- Academia de Nutrición y Dietética, Capítulo de Puerto Rico ↗
- Confidence
- No compact legislation has ever been filed here, and we are confident of that. The eligibility reading below is our own, and no official body has ever confirmed it.
Why: The compact never mentions Puerto Rico, so this entry is our interpretation.
The phrase "Puerto Rico" does not appear anywhere in the model legislation. The word "territory" appears exactly once, in the Section 2 definition of a State: "any state, commonwealth, district, or territory of the United States of America." Read plainly, that covers Puerto Rico, which is both. Puerto Rico also licenses the profession, through the Junta Examinadora de Nutricionistas y Dietistas under Ley Núm. 82 de 31 de mayo de 1972, so unlike the states marked blocked there is a license here for a privilege to attach to. Eligibility still does not follow automatically. Section 8(C)(21) gives the Commission the decision on whether an enacting state's adopted language qualifies it to participate, Section 12(A)(2) applies that review to everyone joining after the seven charter members, and no territory has ever enacted this compact for the Commission to rule on. If you can settle any of it, whether through Commission guidance, an Academy position, a legal opinion, or correspondence with the Junta, we will update the page and say who told us.
Detail
Puerto Rico licenses nutritionist-dietitians, but not every licensee can sit the examination the compact runs on. Section 4 requires CDR registration of every privilege holder. The University of Puerto Rico dietetics program reports that the Junta has accepted that examination toward the local license since February 18, 2016, as one route in rather than a requirement of everyone. The Puerto Rico academy is working to amend Law 82 so that every licensed nutritionist-dietitian holds a bachelor's degree in nutrition, an ACEND-accredited internship and a master's degree, and its public policy coordinator, Maria Eugenia Rodriguez, MS, RD, CSR, has said publicly that this comes first and the compact after. No such amendment has been filed.
Puerto Rico has already chosen a portability mechanism, and it runs one way. Ley 102-2025, the universal licensure recognition law, became law on August 1, 2025 as Senate bill PS 6 and took effect immediately. It directs local examining boards to license practitioners already licensed elsewhere in the United States and excludes only the practice of law, so dietetics is covered. Section 7.02 says a license issued under it is valid in Puerto Rico alone and does not make the holder eligible to work in another state under an interstate compact or reciprocity agreement. A mainland dietitian can move here under it. A Puerto Rico dietitian gets nothing from it going the other way.
Section 3 requires Member States to run fingerprint-based FBI criminal history checks, and we could not confirm that the Junta has the channeling authority to do so. Maryland stayed out over that same class of obstacle. Law 82 also makes membership in the Colegio de Nutricionistas y Dietistas mandatory to practice, which raises a question about visiting privilege holders that the Commission would have to settle. No compact legislation has ever been filed in the Legislative Assembly. A compact privilege does not authorize practice in Puerto Rico today, and a Puerto Rico license cannot serve as the home-state license for a privilege anywhere else.
What to ask for in Puerto Rico
Ask a legislator to introduce it. Of all the letters on this site, this one can do the most.
No compact bill has been filed in your state, so you're asking them to get one introduced. Of all the letters on this site, this one can do the most.
Write to a Puerto Rico legislator →Other jurisdictions with no bill on record
Puerto Rico does not border another US state, so there is no next-door comparison to make. These are the jurisdictions in the same position.
Sources
- https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-4759.30
- https://law.justia.com/codes/puerto-rico/title-twenty/chapter-69/2185/
- https://www.salud.pr.gov/CMS/343
- https://natsci.uprrp.edu/nutricion/becoming-a-registered-dietitian-nutritionist-rdn-3/
- https://cndpr.org/
- https://sutra.oslpr.org/medidas/152396
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/maria-eugenia-rodriguez-csr_dietitian-licensure-compact-activity-7361732704377151488-Ow_A
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/maria-eugenia-rodriguez-csr_rd-compact-tracker-where-the-dietitian-activity-7504352698901778432-5G9O
Before you rely on this
This page is compiled from public reporting and can be out of date the day a legislature acts. Confirm current status with the Puerto Rico legislature and your state licensing board, and with the official compact site. If you find an error here, please tell us. That's how this stays useful.