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Puerto Rico's Ley 163-2026 rewrites the statutory definition of Imagen so that generative AI reproductions of a person's appearance, voice, movement and gestures fall inside the right over one's own image
This is a one-subsection amendment, and that is the interesting part. Puerto Rico did not build a new AI statute. It widened a definition that fifteen years of case law already hangs on.
Bottom line: Binding and already in force. The statute states it takes effect immediately upon approval, and the legislature's own record gives 2 August 2026 as both the approval date and the effective date.
Who this affects: Puerto Rico litigators handling privacy, publicity and media claims; in-house counsel and marketing leads at companies advertising into Puerto Rico; talent agents; and anyone producing synthetic audio or video of an identifiable person.
Issue date: Approved 2 August 2026, effective 2 August 2026. The Senate secretary certified the bill on 26 June 2026 and it was transmitted to the Governor in July 2026.
What changed: Article 2(c) of Ley 139-2011 now says Imagen includes reproduction by any procedure or technique including generation through generative AI, and expressly reaches digital, cloned, simulated or altered audiovisual, auditory and multimedia representations that reproduce or emulate a person's appearance, voice, movement, gestures or any other identifiable attribute.
Analysis: Amending the definition rather than creating a new cause of action means the existing remedies, defences and constitutional balance of Ley 139-2011 carry over intact. That is a deliberate choice, and it is why this short text does more work than its length suggests.
Primary sources: Ley 163-2026, certified text (PDF, ES) · Ayuda Legal PR, Leyes de 2026 index
- Instrument (EN)
- Act No. 163-2026, an act to amend subsection (c) of Article 2 of Act No. 139-2011, known as the Right Over One's Own Image Act
- Authority
- Asamblea Legislativa de Puerto Rico; signed into law by the Governor
- Jurisdiction
- Puerto Rico
- Status
- Enacted and in force
- Bindingness
- Binding statute
- Issue date / next deadline
- Approved and effective 2 August 2026; no transition period and no compliance deadline
- Bill number
- P. del S. 441
- Amends
- Article 2(c) of Ley Num. 139-2011, as amended
- Primary source
- https://aldia.microjuris.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Descarga-la-Ley-163-2026.pdf
What the new definition actually says
Section 1 of the act rewrites subsection (c) of Article 2. Imagen is defined as a name, photograph, portrait, voice, signature, attribute or any representation of a person that serves to identify that person to an average observer or listener, by any procedure or technique of reproduction, including generation through generative artificial intelligence means.
The text then extends that, without limitation, to audiovisual, auditory or multimedia representations generated by algorithms or artificial intelligence models, in digital, cloned, simulated or altered form, that reproduce or emulate, in whole or in part, the appearance, voice, movement, gestures or any other identifiable attribute of a person.
Two words in there are doing heavy lifting. Emulate is broader than reproduce, and movement and gestures are not attributes that older likeness statutes usually name.
Section 2 is the whole compliance timeline
Vigencia: this Act shall take effect immediately upon its approval. There is no grace period, no phase-in, no implementing regulation contemplated in the text I read, and no agency designated to write one.
The legislative record gives 2 August 2026 as both the approval date and the effective date. Anything published on or after that date is subject to the amended definition.
The identification standard did not change, and that is the point
The average observer or listener test was already in Ley 139-2011. The amendment leaves it in place and simply makes clear that a synthetic route to identification counts.
For a defendant, that closes an argument that was always available under the old text: that a generated depiction is not the plaintiff's image because no photograph of the plaintiff was used. Under the amended subsection the question is whether an average observer or listener identifies the person, not how the file was produced.
It also means the case law the statute already carries stays usable. The bill's own statement of motives cites Vigoreaux Lorenzana v. Quizno's Sub, Inc, 173 DPR 254 (2008) for the proposition that the right over one's own image gives its holder an erga omnes power to exclude reproduction and publication of that image by third parties without consent.
Why the legislature framed it as an intellectual property fix
The statement of motives places Ley 139-2011 in a package passed between 2009 and 2012 that also produced Ley 80-2011 on trade secrets and Ley 55-2012 on moral rights of authors. The framing is that Puerto Rico built a property-side framework fifteen years ago and that the technology moved.
The drafters name California, New York and Arkansas as jurisdictions that legislated expressly for these technological advances, and describe the amendment as keeping Puerto Rico proactive. They also note that the right over one's own image is called the right of publicity elsewhere and recognises a proprietary right in a person's identity.
The statement of motives is not operative text. It is useful for construction, and it tells you the legislature intended the amendment to be read against a publicity-rights tradition rather than a pure privacy one.
What we did not verify
I opened the certified text of P. del S. 441 as published by Microjuris al Dia, which contains the Senate secretary's certification, the statement of motives, Section 1 with the new definition, and Section 2 on effectiveness. I also opened the Ayuda Legal Puerto Rico index of 2026 laws, which lists Ley 163 de 2026 with an approval and effective date of 2 August 2026 and the same statutory purpose.
The PDF I read is an optical scan and contains recognition artefacts in a few words. I did not open the official Lexjuris or Departamento de Estado version, and I did not open the unamended text of Ley 139-2011, so I have not read the remedies, the exceptions, or the newsworthiness and commercial-speech carve-outs that sit elsewhere in that act.
I therefore will not state what damages are available, what defences apply to journalism, satire or biography, whether consent must be written, or whether the amendment applies to conduct before 2 August 2026. None of that is in the text I opened.
If you produce or license synthetic media touching Puerto Rico, the definitional change is the operative one: a generated voice or a generated gesture can now be someone's Imagen under Ley 139-2011 without any photograph of them being used. There is no phase-in, so the exposure started on 2 August 2026. The practical step is a consent audit of AI-generated talent assets, not a new policy document.
Source File
https://aldia.microjuris.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Descarga-la-Ley-163-2026.pdf
Open the certified PDF and confirm three things: Section 1 amends only subsection (c) of Article 2 of Ley Num. 139-2011, the new subsection includes the phrase about generation through generative AI means and lists appearance, voice, movement and gestures, and Section 2 states the act takes effect immediately upon approval. Then confirm the 2 August 2026 approval and effective dates against the Ayuda Legal PR index of 2026 laws.
mediante cualquier procedimiento o tecnica de reproduccion incluyendo la generacion a traves de medios de Inteligencia Artificial Generativa. Ley Num. 163-2026, Section 1, amending Article 2(c) of Ley Num. 139-2011, approved 2 August 2026
FAQ
Does Ley 163-2026 create a new deepfake offence?
No. It amends one definition inside an existing 2011 statute. The causes of action, remedies and defences remain whatever Ley 139-2011 already provided; the amendment only widens what counts as a person's image.
When did it take effect?
Immediately upon approval. The legislative record gives 2 August 2026 as both the approval date and the effective date, and the act contains no transition period.
Does it cover voice as well as appearance?
Yes. Voice was already listed in the original definition, and the amendment expressly extends to auditory representations generated by algorithms or AI models in digital, cloned, simulated or altered form.
What is the test for whether a generated depiction is covered?
Whether the representation serves to identify the person to an average observer or listener. That standard came from the existing statute and was not changed.
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