The event to be held in San Jose on 3 and 4 March will address issues such as implementation of digital markets, internet commerce and protection of intellectual property online.
The third International Congress on Electronic Commerce Laws will be held at the Bar Association of Costa Rica, and will address issues related to law in light of new commercial and financial relations being handled electronically.
The private sector in Costa Rica is having doubts over the ability of the Treasury to prevent information leaks, if approval is given to a requirement for companies to disclose shareholder information.
The business sector fears that the authorities will not be able to control possible leaks of confidential data which companies must provide if the decree proposed by the Directorate General of Taxation is approved.
Costa Rica's Banco Nacional has been sentenced to pay compensation to 66 notaries for alleged breaches in finalizing their contracts.
The ruling by the Administrative Court, which is not yet firm, represents 30% of the bank's expected profits for 2013, and restricts the entity's ability to increase its loan portfolio.
"In case of payment of compensation it would reduce the ability of credit growth by ¢119,000 million ($237 million)," said Juan Carlos Corrales, deputy general manager of the bank, who expressed his discontent with the ruling, describing it as disproportionate and without foundation. "Unfortunately, It must be said: these are lawyers defending a lawyer' sentence," he added.
While conventional courts take between 4 and 7 years to rule on a case, conciliation and arbitration centers do so in between 8 and 10 months.
The country currently has 15 centers and 17 Justice Houses of a public nature for alternative dispute resolution.
One example is the Alternative Justice Center created by the Lawyer's Association of Costa Rica, in January 2012, which in less than a year has resolved between 28 and 30 processes of conciliation and arbitration. However, it took 8 years to enter into play with other organizations who had already been in operation for over a decade, and are authorized by the State to conciliate and arbitrate conflicts.
The Lawyers Association of Costa Rica has opened a mediation or arbitration center, which can be used for work, family, commercial or civil conflicts.
Covered by the Law on International Commercial Arbitration May 2011, the Center for Alternative Justice and Lawyers Bar Association of Costa Rica also aims to host international arbitration.
An article in Elfinancerocr.com reported that "The new center joins existing ones in the country, such as those located in the Costa Rican Chamber of Commerce, the Federated College of Engineers and Architects and the Costa Rican North American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham). "
The new National Notary Directorate will open its doors on February 8th, offering a limited set of services.
Initially, it will only authenticate signatures and issue security papers for notaries.
“Roxana Sánchez, from the Superior Notary Council, commented that users can already use the Authority to find out if a specific notary is active or suspended, or to check if they have any fines to pay”, reported Nacion.com.
Many notary services are unavailable, as a new law, which moves the National Notary Directorate to a different institution, came into effect on Monday.
The new organization is not functioning properly yet, and the situation has complicated the daily operation of the country's 8.000 notaries.
"Roy Jimenez, who was the head of the former Directorate, reminded that each day they authenticated 100 documents to be sent abroad, and authorized 80 new books of notarial paper to be used by notaries [known as 'Protocolo' in Spanish]", reported Nacion.com. "Additionally, the company supplying security paper to notaries is now unable to check if said professionals are active or suspended".
The Lawyer's Bar warned that chaos could ensue when the National Notary Directorate disappears on Monday.
Neither the new Notary Code nor the Superior Notary Council are in effect yet. According to Éricka Hernández, from the Lawyer's Bar, this will leave a gap that will delay paperwork for mortgages, loans, divorces and several commercial transactions.
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