After the Ministry of Finance convened an ultra fast tender and received only two bids for $27 million and $8 million to develop an electronic invoicing system, the union of technology companies has filed a complaint alleging anti-competitive practices.

From a statement issued by the Costa Rican Chamber of Information and Communication Technologies (CAMTIC):

August, 2016.  This morning, representatives of the Costa Rican Chamber of Information Technology and Communication (ICE) filed a complaint with the Commission to Promote Competition (COPROCOM) against the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service Company of Heredia (ESPH), for anticompetitive practices in the market of digital technologies.

According to the complaint, the Ministry of Finance is abusing Article 2 of the Public Procurement Act and using that rule as justification proceeded to sign a contract with the ESPH, to develop and implement an electronic invoice system, without the benefit of any public contest process.

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Costa Rica: Mandatory Electronic Invoicing for Some Companies

January 2017

It has been announced that from March a group of large taxpayers will have to start using the electronic billing system mandatorily.

According to the Directorate General of Taxation, they will begin with a group of companies considered large taxpayers, who have already received training to implement the use of electronic invoices starting from March.

Telecom Costa Rica: Cheaper Roaming is Not Anti-Competitive

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A complaint from the state run telecommunications company in Costa Rica has been dismissed after it argued that its competitors Claro and Movistar were using monopolistic practices in their services for international voice and data roaming.

The Superintendency of Telecommunications (Sutel) and the Commission to Promote Competition (COPROCOM) decided not to recommend any sanction against alleged monopolistic practices by Movistar and Claro, annulling the suit filed in May 2015 by the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE).

Ultra Fast "Tender" in Costa Rica

July 2016

In the tender to design and implement an electronic billing system for the Treasury, interested companies only have five working days in which to submit bids.

In a tender which requires, among other things, five years of experience in systems development, experience in project management and even a certificate from the Project Management Institute, Empresa de Servicios Público (ESPH) is only allowing five business days for interested companies to submit their proposals.

Costa Rica: One More Year for Electronic Invoicing

June 2015

Although the government had announced that electronic invoicing would be mandatory in 2014, the same Ministry of Finance has now announced that the process will be delayed at least another year.

Commercial documents for tax purposes, generated and transmitted in electronic form, will have to wait until the first half of 2016.