In order for a club soda or a restaurant in Costa Rica to obtain permission to use liquefied petroleum gas, the business must comply with the regulations that have been in effect since September and must then submit to the scrutiny of a certified specialist.
The 133 requirements to be met by restaurants and club soda are contained in the "General Regulations for the Regulation of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Supply."
Although in Costa Rica the procedures for approving new pesticides that enter the market should take a few weeks, there are processes that have not been processed for more than ten years, which prevents increasing and improving the supply of products.
The State Phytosanitary Service (SFE), which is part of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, accumulates dozens of files that are still pending approval, including some that have been waiting for more than a decade.
In Costa Rica the Ministry of Health has published a new regulation for cement companies to treat solid waste in cement kilns.
Companies working in the cement industry that want to use their furnaces to treat waste must obtain approval from the Ministry of Health, which will validate, through a test protocol, if the furnace has the necessary conditions to be used.
With the proposal to modify the ban that exists today on street food sales, "the Costa Rican government intends to legalize informality with a populist and meaningless discourse."
The Ministry of Health has introduced a bill that modifies the General Health Law, which would allow the sale of fruits, packaged food, prepared food or food to be heated and eaten in situ, which"...
The National Recycling Strategy announced by the administration Solis contemplates the implementation of a virtual stock exchange in which companies from different sectors can sell waste materials.
The initiative aims to give value to industrial and waste materials that can be reused as raw materials in different productive activities.
Nacion.com reported that "...This is a digital platform where users, mainly companies, may offer waste and, likewise, seek waste materials that could serve as inputs for their respective activities. The goal, according to the official document, is to 'boost the supply and demand of waste in a practical, user-friendly and simple manner'. "
The regulation which has been long-awaited because it would lead to dozens of investment projects, has been challenged in the Constitutional Court.
The "preventing" machine still works very effectively in Costa Rica, this time to stop huge investments that would help solve the problem of waste disposal afflicting municipalities.
Environmental viability proceedings for energy projects using trash as a fuel source have been suspended after a constitutional complaint was filed against the regulation governing the incineration of waste.
The deadline for ruling on applications for simplified registrations is now 5 working days from the moment the application is submitted, and validity of the registry of cosmetics and low risk foods has been extended to five years.
The simplified registration process for cosmetics and food is as follows:
"... The deadline for the resolution of simplified registrations is 5 working days from the submission of the complete application by the administrator. "
The relaxation of requirements for the registration of dietary supplements with which the Ministry of Health accelerated procedures last year, seems to now be history.
Companies selling dietary supplements claim that the transition in June 2014 which allowed them to register products by presenting only an affidavit, expedited registration of products that were on hold, but they are now "tied up" because registering new products means they have to go through the same long process as before, which ultimately forces them to keep marketing only products which have been registered without allowing them to incorporate new versions.
The National Animal Health Service has identified an outbreak in a cattle farm in Puriscal, Province of San Jose, where it has established sanitary and quarantine measures.
From a statement issued by the National Animal Health Service (SENASA):
The National Animal Health Service (SENASA), at the Ministry of Agriculture, has detected an outbreak of bovine paralytic rabies in a farm located in Puriscal, in the district of Mercedes Sur, specifically in the village Quebrada Honda, in the Province of San Jose, where a bovine has died.
The Ministry of Health in Costa Rica has finalized the regulations governing the operation of incineration plants which generate energy from waste.
Almost a year after the moratorium on power generation based on solid waste, which is mainly affecting municipalities, the Ministry of Public Health has announced that the regulations which establish the conditions for the incineration of waste are ready.
A year into its tenure, the government of Costa Rica has announced the formation of a joint committee to study a national plan for recycling and recovery of waste.
EDITORIAL:
In another grim example of the difficulties faced by rulers in Costa Rica to make executive decisions on public works, existing plans - which are currently on hold, and will probably disappear - for investment in the waste management and recycling sector, including generating power from them, due to the fact that the current government has decided to start from scratch with the formation of a committee to "develop strategies" on the topic. As if there were not already enough information on his issue, and as if the respective participants and those responsible had not expressed themselves sufficiently in this respect. It is the same case with the commission on energy introduced by this government.
Municipalities in Costa Rica estimate that adoption of the regulations being prepared by the executive branch could accelerate the suspension of the moratorium in July.
The moratorium on generating energy from solid waste imposed by the government on July 11 could be lifted in late August, according to estimates by the National Association of Mayors and City Councils.
The Costa Rican Chamber of the Food Industry has affirmed that problems and delays in the registration process have temporarily been resolved.
Representatives from the food industry (Cacia) point out that since the Ministry of Health implemented a temporary measure which allows records to be filed via an affidavit, the formalities are being completed in a week.
Costa Rica has presented a bill that seeks to eliminate exclusivity in the importation and distribution of medicines.
The deputy leader of the Libertarian Movement has introduced a bill that aims to allow "... any person, natural or juridical to take advantage of medical registrations with the Ministry of Health and import medicines from anywhere in the world."
The government has agreed with the municipalities that within a month it will analyze the effects of generating power using waste before lifting the moratorium in June.
The Ministries of Health and Environment and Energy announced that they will dedicate a month to studying the effects of this method of power generation before removing the moratorium established on June 17 on this activity.
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