Call Recording Laws in Puerto Rico

Plain-English summary

Puerto Rico applies an all-party-consent standard rooted in the constitutional right to privacy (Article II, § 10 of the Constitution of Puerto Rico). The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico has held that recording a private conversation without the consent of all parties violates the constitutional privacy guarantee.

Puerto Rico’s criminal Code of 2012, Article 183 (33 L.P.R.A. § 4912), criminalizes the unauthorized interception of communications. Federal law (§ 2511) applies in Puerto Rico, but the stricter constitutional standard controls in practice.

Case law of note

No appellate decision in Puerto Rico has materially reshaped the participant-recording rule in recent decades. Lower-court decisions exist but do not change the analytical framework set by the statute and by general federal precedent under § 2511.

Edge cases and special rules

In-person vs. phone. Same — all-party
Voicemail. Leaving a message creates the recording at the recipient’s direction; reviewing one’s own voicemail is not interception.
Vicarious consent. Several federal courts have recognized a parental-consent doctrine permitting a parent to consent on behalf of a minor child (Pollock v. Pollock, 154 F.3d 601 (6th Cir. 1998)). State law varies; no controlling Puerto Rico appellate decision on the question.
Law enforcement. Court-authorized intercepts are governed by a separate framework and are outside the scope of this page.
Cross-border calls. Where any participant is in an all-party state, treat the stricter rule as the safer default. See cross-border calls.

Penalties and remedies

Criminal: Felony under Penal Code Art. 183.

Civil: Constitutional and statutory remedies.

Evidence: a recording made in violation of the Puerto Rico statute is generally inadmissible in Puerto Rico proceedings. Federal § 2515 separately bars use of unlawfully intercepted communications in federal proceedings.

Practical guidance

If you are recording an ordinary phone call: obtain audible consent from every party at the start of the call.
Suggested opening: See our consent script templates for jurisdiction-specific language.
If the other party objects: stop recording. Continued recording over an objection is a separate factual question that no consent statute helps you with.
What to keep: the date and time of the call, the parties’ phone numbers, a description of the consent given (express verbal, continued participation after notice, etc.), and the audio file itself.