The Costa Rica News (TCRN ) – The Constitutional Court removed several policies of the Liquor Act for considering them unconstitutional. The judges considered that the fixation of a quarterly patent fee was disproportionate, since it did not differentiate the location of facilities.
As a result, the Institute of Economic Research of the University of Costa Rica (UCR) was asked to convert the amount of ¢ 300 ( set in the 1936´s law ) into the current value, which became c436,668. This amount is not unreasonable but must be regulated according to the location of each restaurant.
As judge Paul Rueda stated, “it is not the same to charge that amount in a downtown place than in a rural area”. “Since we are a constitutional court and we can not legislate, we took the temporary measure of specifying a ¢ 436,000 fee to those businesses located in provincial capitals, whereas 50% and 25% of that amount must be paid by the other businesses according to their location”. In addition, another change has to do with the expiration dates of the patents, which now are due in a two-year period. FNL
The Costa Rica News (TCRN)
San Jose, Costa Rica
