Countries › Costa Rica › Guide › 14. Disputes

14. Disputes: Costa Rica

Disputes in Costa Rica: how commercial cases run under the oral Código Procesal Civil, debt collection through the monitorio and foreclosure, the single Model Law arbitration statute for domestic and international cases since April 2025, enforcing foreign awards and judgments through the Sala Primera, investment protection through ICSID, bilateral agreements and CAFTA DR, mediation, claims against the State, amparo, the 2021 insolvency law, consumer claims, limitation periods and cross border service, each rule tied to the official text in SCIJ. Costa Rica and Argentina are both parties to the New York, ICSID, Apostille and Hague Service and Evidence Conventions and have a bilateral investment agreement; the Argentine side is covered in The Argentine Thread guide.

Investor view. A modern arbitration statute with annulment as the only recourse, New York Convention and ICSID membership and enforceable settlements give investors predictable ways to protect contracts in Costa Rica, which matters because ordinary court cases can take time.

• Disputes in Costa Rica: courts, arbitration, enforcing foreign judgments and awards, and investment protectionCosta Rican commercial disputes go to the civil courts under the oral Código Procesal Civil of 2016 (in force 8 October 2018), with appeals to collegiate tribunals and cassation before the Sala Primer
• Commercial litigation in Costa Rica: courts, the oral ordinary process, interim relief, appeals, cassation and costsCommercial suits follow the oral Código Procesal Civil: a written claim, a 30 business day peremptory term to answer, a preliminary hearing with conciliation and a complementary hearing to take eviden
• Debt collection in Costa Rica: the monitorio, executory titles, mortgage and pledge foreclosure, attachments and auctionsLiquid and due money debts backed by a document are collected through the monitorio process: the court orders payment, the debtor has five days to pay or object on narrow grounds, and with an executor
• Commercial arbitration in Costa Rica: one Model Law statute for domestic and international cases, the clause, tribunal, interim measures and annulmentSince 2 April 2025 every arbitration seated in Costa Rica, domestic or international, is governed by Ley 8937, the UNCITRAL Model Law statute reformed by Ley 10535. The parties choose the rules and ar
• Enforcing arbitral awards in Costa Rica: local awards, foreign awards under the New York and Panama Conventions, and the Sala PrimeraAwards made in Costa Rica are enforced directly in court like judgments, and an annulment request does not suspend them. Foreign awards are recognised by the Sala Primera of the Supreme Court in an in
• Foreign court judgments in Costa Rica: recognition by the cassation chambers, requirements and enforcementA foreign judgment has effect in Costa Rica only after recognition by the competent cassation chamber of the Supreme Court, the Sala Primera for civil and commercial matters. The applicant must show a
• Investment protection and investor State arbitration in Costa Rica: ICSID, bilateral investment agreements and CAFTA DRCosta Rica has been an ICSID Contracting State since 27 May 1993 and has approved bilateral investment agreements with, among others, Argentina, China, Korea, the Netherlands, Qatar, Switzerland and t
• Mediation and conciliation in Costa Rica: Ley 7727, court conciliation, settlement effects and authorised centresLey 7727 gives everyone the right to settle disposable property disputes by negotiation, mediation, conciliation or arbitration, at any time, even after final judgment. Judicial settlements approved b
• Claims against the State in Costa Rica: contentious administrative courts, the one year deadline, interim measures and payment of judgmentsChallenges to acts of public bodies and damages claims against them go to the contentious administrative jurisdiction under Ley 8508 (in force 1 January 2008). Exhausting administrative appeals is opt
• Amparo and constitutional challenges in Costa Rica: the Sala Constitucional, two month deadline, suspension and damagesThe Sala Constitucional of the Supreme Court hears amparo claims against public bodies, and against private parties acting with public powers or in a position of power, for violations of fundamental r
• Insolvency in Costa Rica for creditors: the single concurso under Ley 9957, the collection stay, ranking, creditor votes and cross border recognitionSince 1 December 2021 the Ley Concursal de Costa Rica (Ley 9957) replaced bankruptcy, preventive arrangements and court reorganisation with one concurso for all private debtors. Opening suspends colle
• Consumer claims in Costa Rica: strict liability, the Comisión Nacional del Consumidor, six month deadline, conciliation and fines in salarios baseProducers, suppliers and merchants answer jointly and without fault for harm to consumers from goods, services or inadequate information, and since 2026 financial entities answer the same way for unau
• Limitation periods in Costa Rica: four years commercial, ten years civil, one year short claims, labour, the State and how to interruptCommercial claims prescribe in four years and civil claims in ten, but many short periods apply: one year for annulment of shareholder and board resolutions, director liability, interest and rent unde
• Cross border service, evidence and documents in Costa Rica: Hague Service and Evidence Conventions, Inter American conventions, letters rogatory and apostilleCosta Rica joined the Hague Service Convention (in force 1 October 2016) and the Hague Evidence Convention (in force 15 May 2016), and has long applied the Inter American conventions on letters rogato

Related: Costa Rica country profile · live dashboard · central bank and release calendar · our posts on X