Karibe digital property registry

Puerto Rico’s historically outdated Property Registry has been thrust into the 21st century through a
$6.9 million modernization project that converted the government’s database from paper to fully
electronic and available 24/7.

The “Karibe program,” the name given to the new registration application that provides a platform to
run the new Digital Property Registry, required the automation, digitalization, and integration of more
than 100 years of Puerto Rican registration history to achieve the transformation of an archaic and
complicated system into one that is easy to operate, 100 percent electronic and on par with the best in
the world, he said.

“With the implementation of ‘Karibe’ and the adoption of Laws 209 and 210 of December 2015, the
total modernization of the Land Registry was achieved. Puerto Rico now has a record that provides, in
real time.

The Land Registry was founded in 1893 by the Mortgage Act for overseas provinces.

An earlier digitalized version of the registry was launched, but soon became obsolete because the Island
never had access to the source code to update or temper the application to their needs, the government
official said.

The Registry’s archaic infrastructure created huge backlogs in qualification and registration of the
documents submitted. Those arrears, the purchase of more expensive insurance that made registration
procedures more expensive, removed certainty and confidence in the registry, and become obstacles to
economic transactions of goods.

The new Digital Registry is the only agency connected in real time with the Attorneys Registry, the
Municipal Revenue Collection Center (known as CRIM), the Office of Permit Management and the
Treasury Department.

It provides access to several government agencies, such as the State Insurance Fund, the Office of the
Independent Special Prosecutor, the Office of the Notarial Inspector, the Government Ethics Office, the
Justice Department’s Public Integrity Division, and the Office of the Comptroller, among others, to
conduct investigations into corruption, money laundering, tax evasion, file attachments, study lots and
other matters within the agency.

The Registry’s modernization required digitizing more than 11 million pages and 42,313 volumes of
information.