The Free Trade Zone Regime in Costa Rica for service companies is one of the country’s main tools for attracting foreign investment. It is a special regime of tax and customs incentives granted by the Executive Branch to companies that meet the regulatory requirements, conditions, and obligations, and whose final approval is based on the government’s discretionary assessment of the project’s economic impact on the country.
Within these conditions, the regulations do not establish general requirements for minimum infrastructure—except for general controls—nor a minimum size for the operational area. However, they do establish and regulate other obligations, such as compliance with a minimum investment in assets, the execution of an approved activity, and the creation of jobs.
COMEX’s Criteria on Minimum Operational Areas
In this context, on March 19, 2026, the Legal Advisory Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Trade (COMEX) issued Official Letter DAL-COR-CAE-0019-2026, which analyzes the feasibility of authorizing operational areas of five square meters (5 m²) or less for service companies under the Free Trade Zone Regime.
The analysis concludes that, although there is no express prohibition, an office of these dimensions could be incompatible with substantive obligations of the regime, such as the actual performance of the activity, the possibility of effective oversight, compliance with occupational health standards, and the demonstration of economic substance.
The Virtual Reality of Service Companies
However, this analysis must be conducted in light of the current business reality and moving away from the premise that business operations take place primarily in a traditional physical space.
The Free Trade Zone Regime—especially for service-sector companies—has evolved alongside the global context toward operational models in which remote work, virtuality, and coworking spaces are the norm rather than the exception. Companies operate in highly digitized environments, with distributed teams, hybrid models, and intensive use of technological tools. The “place of operation” is no longer necessarily a physical space, but rather a combination of digital infrastructure, human talent, and processes.
In practice, authorities (for example, PROCOMER and Customs) have already adapted their control mechanisms to this reality, and these include inspections that do not depend exclusively on continuous physical presence in a specific space.
In this regard, the relevant question should not focus solely on the size of the area, but rather on whether the company effectively complies with the regime’s obligations: whether it generates employment, carries out substantial activity, maintains adequate controls, and produces an economic impact in the country.
This situation takes on even greater importance in a competitive environment where Costa Rica faces mounting pressures: high labor costs, significant social security contributions, and currency appreciation that makes dollar-denominated operations more expensive, while other countries in the region continue to strengthen their human capital and investment conditions.
In this scenario, imposing additional difficulties could undermine the country’s competitiveness, which would directly impact job availability.
In the case of operations outside the GAM, where the benefits aim to generate a real economic impact in specific areas of the country, COMEX’s concern is valid. However, if service models are becoming increasingly virtual, should access be restricted, regulations adapted, or entry permitted under conditions equivalent to those applicable outside the GAM?
The challenge, then, is not to define a minimum threshold, but to ensure that the regime continues to fulfill its purpose: to attract real, sustainable investment aligned with national needs, in line with the evolution of global business models.