Puerto Rico

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 language covers Puerto Rico, which is both a commonwealth and a territory. Puerto Rico also licenses the profession. Ley Núm. 82 de 31 de mayo de 1972 created the Junta Examinadora de Nutricionistas y Dietistas, which issues the license to practice nutrition and dietetics, so unlike the five states marked blocked there is a license here for a compact privilege to attach to. The University of Puerto Rico dietetics program reports that since February 18, 2016 the Junta has accepted the CDR Registration Examination toward that license, the exam Section 4 requires of every privilege holder. We infer from that a territory meeting the Section 3 requirements would qualify, and that Puerto Rico sits closer to meeting them than most non-member states. No official body has said as much. No territory has ever enacted this compact and the Commission has never ruled on one. Section 8(C)(21) also hands the Commission the decision on whether an enacting state's adopted language qualifies it to participate, and Section 12(A)(2) applies that review to every state joining after the seven charter members, so eligibility does not follow automatically from the text. If you can point us to anything that settles this, whether Commission guidance, an Academy position, a legal opinion, or correspondence with the Junta, we will update the page and say who told us.