Summary Facts About Doing Business in Costa Rica.

1. International Lawyers Network
San Francisco
June 2009
Doing Business in Costa Rica
by
Cordero & Cordero Abogados

2. |Introduction to Costa Rica
• Geography: located in Central
America, borders Nicaragua to the
North, Panama to the South East,
Caribbean Sea to the East and the
Pacific Ocean to the West.
• Area: Total of 51,100 sq km
(similar to West Virginia); has a
total of 1,290 kilometers of
coastline
• 7 provinces. San José located in
the Central Valley is the political
and economic capital

3. |Introduction to Costa Rica
• Population: 4.4 million with a literacy rate of 95% of the
population;
• Labor Force: 2.1 million;
• Economy depends on tourism, electronic and medical exports,
agriculture, highly diversified exports with industries such as:
microprocessors, food processing, medical equipment, textiles,
clothing, construction materials, fertilizers, plastic products, etc;
• Strong social safety net;
• Unemployment Rate: 4.6%
• Highly stable economy and political system

4. |Introduction to Costa Rica
• Costa Rica is a Democratic Republic comprised of three
distinctive and separate powers which are:
– Legislative (Unicameral Congress)
– Executive (President + Government Council)
– Judicial (Supreme Court of Justice + Lower Courts)
• Oldest Democracy in Latin America
• Abolished its Armed Forces (Military) in 1949

5. |Doing Business in Costa
Rica
• Costa Rica’s Trade Policy
– Since 1986, Costa Rica began a process of insertion into the international
markets.
– Its foreign trade policy focused to an opening of its market to the world
economy through an internal diversification and modernization process
– Existing Free Trade Agreements with US and Central America and DR,
Canada, Chile, Panamá, México, etc. Undergoing negotiations with
China, EU (about to begin talks with Singapore)
– Bilateral Investment Treaties with: Germany, Argentina, Canada, Chile,
China, Korea, Spain, France, Great Britain, Paraguay, and others.

6. |Doing Business in Costa
Rica
Interesting Facts about Costa Rica
– No limitations on capital funds transfers associated with an investment;
– No restrictions imposed on re-investments or on repatriation of earnings;
royalties or capital.
– No requirement to register investments with any of the government authorities;
– Foreing Individuals have the same constitutional rights as nationals
– No restriction to foreing ownership of real estate in Costa Rica
– Many fortune 500 companies have recently established operations in Costa
Rica due to its stability, high education level and bilingual labor force. Some of
these companies are:
• Intel, HP, Boston Scientific, Abbot Laboratories, Baxter, IBM, Sykes, Western
Union, Proctor Gamble, Hospira, Continental, Emerson, Allergan, Trimport, etc

7. |Doing Business in Costa
Rica
Due to its political stability, Costa Rica has been able to
maintain throughout the years strong political and
economical ties with the major world economies.
Latest World Bank survey for Global Governance
ranks CR in 1st place within Latin America for
Political Stability.

9. •Corporate Law
•Mergers & Acquisitions
•Banking Law & Financial Regulations
•Insurance Law
•Real Estate & Property Law
•Project Finance & Foreign Investment
•Civil Litigation
•Intellectual Property
•Labor & Immigration
•Information Technologies & Telecomm
•Others

11. Thank you!