QCOSTARICA — The more than 600 companies benefiting from the Free Trade Zone Regime and the Active Improvement Regime will be able to import or re-import products of health interest or their raw materials in an agile manner, since they will no longer need to have the health registration of the Ministry of Health.
This new regulation is the result of the coordinated inter-institutional work carried out by the Presidential Council on Foreign Direct Investment outside the Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM).
Executive Decree No. 44696-S-COMEX, “Regulations for the sanitary authorization of the entry of products of sanitary interest or their raw materials to establishments under the free zone and active improvement regimes,” seeks to expedite the entry and reentry of this type of products that are essential for the operation of companies, mainly for those that export or re-export most of their production, such as those in the life sciences sector.
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Laura López, General Manager of the Costa Rican Foreign Trade Promotion Agency (PROCOMER) – an institution that coordinates the Presidential Council outside GAM and raises proposals for improvements in competitiveness – stated that this effort is part of the post-establishment work carried out by the institution to promote the attraction of foreign direct investment.
“Improving regulations and reducing barriers to investment is a task that we have been carrying out from the after-care area of PROCOMER and from the Presidential Council outside GAM to facilitate all the processes of establishment and operation for companies, so that their continuity in our country can be guaranteed,” said López.
Before this new regulation, free zone and active improvement companies had to wait for the approval of health registration applications from the Ministry of Health, even to export their products, which caused delays in the effective start of their operations.
In 2023, the Ministry of Health received more than 67,000 requests for health registrations.
With this regulation, companies will now be able to export without having to comply with this requirement and will be able to import these products with the presentation of a “Storage Authorization Form” (FAD), through the PROCOMER Foreign Trade Single Window (VUCE), which will be resolved within a period of 7 business days.
It is important to consider that companies must continue to comply with the legal and administrative provisions of customs control exercised over the entry or exit of these products from the delimited areas of the free zone, as well as their transportation.
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In the event that the products are imported, marketed, distributed, used or consumed in the national territory, companies must comply with the health records, as established by the General Health Law and its regulations. Likewise, this regulation establishes certain products or raw materials excluded from its application, including dangerous chemical products or unfinished chemicals.
“This reform is the result of months of joint work and institutional coordination between the different areas of the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and PROCOMER, being a response to a challenge identified by free zone companies,” concluded López.
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