Costa Rica — agent-bev Library

Market status

Licensed; state production monopoly. Finished beverage alcohol can be traded by private operators that hold the required customs, fiscal, sanitary and municipal permissions. The channel model combines a customs-administered fiscal register for importers, manufacturers and wholesale distributors, Ministry of Health product and premises controls, municipal licensing for retail sale, and a state monopoly role for domestic production and use of ethyl alcohol for liquor or industrial purposes and raw rum through the Fábrica Nacional de Licores (FANAL).

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Who can trade

Import: Alcoholic beverages are treated as processed foods for sanitary purposes. Processed foods need sanitary registration before commercialisation, and food import clearance is handled through the foreign-trade single window with the Ministry of Health authorisation. Importers, manufacturers, distributors and wholesale sellers of alcoholic beverages must also be in the customs-administered Fiscal Register under Law 8707; the assigned number must appear on commercial invoices and receipts.

Wholesale and distribution: A premises-level Ministry of Health operating permit is required for the relevant activity, such as storage, warehouse or wholesale sale. A municipal business licence is also required for any lucrative activity in the canton. Wholesale operators should separate this from the municipal alcohol retail licence, which applies to sale to the final consumer by licence class.

Domestic manufacture: Companies wishing to elaborate alcoholic beverages in Costa Rica must obtain the relevant FANAL concession where the state monopoly applies. The concession does not replace Ministry of Health product registration or premises permissions.

Business-to-business (B2B) online sale: Electronic ordering does not remove the underlying fiscal, sanitary, customs and municipal requirements. The Ministry of Health recognises sanitary operating permits for retail by post and Internet; specific independent B2B platform, broker and payment-intermediary permissions: Not yet sourced.

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Customs and duty

Tariff headings: Beer: 2203. Beer made from malt. Wine: 2204. Wine of fresh grapes, including fortified wine and certain grape must. Cider: 2206. Other fermented beverages, including cider, and mixtures not elsewhere specified. Spirits: 2208. Undenatured ethyl alcohol below 80% alcohol by volume, spirits, liqueurs and other spirituous beverages.

Import duty: Use the Costa Rican customs tariff through ArancelNet or the tariff query of the Tecnología de Información para el Control Aduanero (TICA) system and the full national tariff line, origin and applicable preference. The Costa Rican most-favoured-nation tariff is described by the Ministry of Foreign Trade as the import customs duty plus the statutory Law 6946 charge. Exact origin-specific customs duty for a proposed product: Not yet sourced.

Excise and import charges: Alcoholic beverages carry a specific tax calculated by millilitres of absolute alcohol, with bands by alcoholic strength. Customs calculation guidance also identifies import duty, selective consumption tax where applicable, statutory levies, the alcoholic-beverage specific tax and value added tax in the import calculation. The payable result depends on classification, customs value, strength, quantity, origin and regime.

Territorial treatment: Customs law regulates entry and exit of goods from the national territory and divides the customs territory into primary and secondary zones. Goods may be placed under definitive, suspensive or liberatory customs regimes, including free zones. Specific beverage-alcohol treatment under Golfito, duty-free shops, free zones and other special regimes: Not yet sourced.

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Labelling

Required language(s): Mandatory information must be available in Spanish. A complementary label is required where the original label is not in Spanish, and it must carry the mandatory information required by sections 5 to 7 of the Central American Technical Regulation adopted by Costa Rica.

Mandatory information: Prepackaged alcoholic beverages in Costa Rica fall within the general food-labelling regulation. Labels must identify the true nature of the food, list ingredients except for single-ingredient foods, declare net contents, sanitary registration, responsible business name and address, country of origin, lot and expiry date where required. Wine and beverages of 10% alcohol by volume or more are exempted from expiry-date marking under the general rule.

Allergens: Ingredients known to cause hypersensitivity must always be declared, including gluten-containing cereals, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soya, milk, tree nuts and sulphites at or above the prescribed threshold. Possible unintended presence must be declared clearly after the ingredient list.

Origin and importer: Country of origin must be indicated. Imported foods must state the importer or distributor name and address.

Label registration: Imported food registration requires the original label, Spanish translations where needed, the complementary label under Decree 37280 and an operating permit for the relevant activity.

Mandatory warnings: General mandatory alcohol-health or pregnancy label warning: Not yet sourced.

Alcohol strength and wine particulars: Current physical-label alcohol-strength rule for all categories; specific wine labelling particulars beyond general food-labelling rules: Not yet sourced.

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Age and sale limits

Legal purchase and consumption age: 18. Sale or free supply of alcoholic beverages to minors is prohibited, and sellers must request official identification where age is in doubt.

Retail licence hours: National law sets retail sale hours by licence class. Closed-container primary alcohol shops, class A, and class B1 bars may sell from 11:00 to 00:00. Class B2 dance venues may sell from 16:00 to 02:30. Class C restaurants may sell from 11:00 to 02:30 the following day. Class D secondary off-premise outlets may sell from 08:00 to 00:00. Class E tourist-category premises have no statutory alcohol-sale hour limit under the cited national provision.

Channel and place limits: Sale and consumption on public roads and public places are prohibited except in municipal-authorised events within the demarcated area. Minors may not work in establishments that sell alcoholic beverages, and entry or permanence of minors is prohibited in the specified principal alcohol-sale categories.

Regional layers: Municipalities grant alcohol licences, temporary event licences and local operating rules. Complete cantonal restrictions beyond national alcohol law; wholesale-only delivery-hour treatment: Not yet sourced.

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Protected names

Protection framework: Costa Rica protects geographical indications and denominations of origin through the intellectual-property registration framework and through treaty commitments. The National Registry guidance states that the resolution granting a geographical indication or denomination of origin identifies the delimited production area, covered products or services, and essential qualities or characteristics, and is published in La Gaceta.

Treaty examples: Under the Central America-Mexico treaty, protected Mexican spirit names include Tequila, Mezcal, Sotol, Bacanora and Charanda. The same treaty lists Ron de Guatemala as a Central American spirit geographical indication. These examples are not exhaustive.

European Union list: The Central America-European Union Association Agreement includes a list of names for which protection was requested, including wines and spirits; the protected-names annex provides for insertion after successful examination. Verified protected wine and beer names in Costa Rica: Not yet sourced.

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GTIN authority

Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) member organisation: GS1 Costa Rica, operated by Asociación GS Uno Costa Rica. Its guidance describes GTIN as the unique product identifier for trade items and provides membership routes for product identification and barcodes.

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Not yet sourced

Specific independent B2B platform, broker and payment-intermediary permissions; exact origin-specific customs duty for a proposed product; specific beverage-alcohol treatment under Golfito, duty-free shops, free zones and other special regimes; general mandatory alcohol-health or pregnancy label warning; current physical-label alcohol-strength rule for all categories; specific wine labelling particulars beyond general food-labelling rules; complete cantonal restrictions beyond national alcohol law; wholesale-only delivery-hour treatment; verified protected wine and beer names in Costa Rica: Not yet sourced.