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1400 GENEVA TIME ( 1200  GMT) 7 MAY 2007  
 
PRESS/TPRB/282 
7 May 2007 
 
(07-1852) 
TRADE POLICY REVIEW: COSTA RICA 
Solid growth — a need to open key services 
Since its last trade policy review in 2001, Costa Ri ca has experienced solid economic growth while  
continuing to modernize and simplify its generally liberal trade and investment regime. Applied 
tariffs have remained largely unchanged and the us e of non-tariff trade barriers has been limited. 
Costa Rica has carried out an export promotion strategy which may well have encouraged investment but affected resource allocation. In this regard, reforms are planned in the free zone 
regime to bring it into line with WTO rules. 
 In Services, the historical lack of competition in sectors such as insurance and telecommunications 
has hampered development and choice for consumers. Reforms are planned in these sectors and it 
would be important to bind them multilaterally to give greater predictability to the trade and investment regime, according to the report.  
 
The report, along with a policy statement by the Government of Costa Rica, will be the basis for the third Trade Policy Review (TPR) of Costa Rica by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO on 
7 and 9 May 2007. 
 The following documents are available in MS Wo rd format on the WTO web-site. They can be 
downloaded at http://www.wto.org/english/ tratop_e/tpr_e/tp282_e.htm  
 • Secretariat report 
> Contents and summary observations  
> Economic environment  > Trade and investment regimes  
> Trade policies and practices by measure  
> Trade policies by sector  > Appendix tables  
• Report by the Government of Costa Rica 
• Chairperson’s concluding remarks  
• Minutes of the meeting (available appr oximately six weeks after the meeting). 
 PRESS/TPRB/282 
Page 2 of 2 
 
 
 Note 
Trade Policy Reviews are an exercise, mandated in the WTO agreements, in which member countries’ trade and related policies are examined and evaluated at regular intervals. Significant 
developments that may have an impact on the global trading system are also monitored. For each 
review, two documents are prepared: a policy stat ement by the government of the member under 
review, and a detailed report written independently by the WTO Secretariat. These two documents are then discussed by the WTO’s full membership in  the Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB). These 
documents and the proceedings of the TPRB’s meetings are published shortly afterwards.  
 Print copies of the TPR publications are available for sale from the WTO Secretariat, Centre William 
Rappard, 154 rue de Lausanne, 1211 Genève 21 and through the on-line bookshop at 
https://secure.vtx.ch/shop/boutiques/wto_index_boutique.html  or follow this path :  
www.wto.org >resources > publications > trade policy reviews  
 
The TPR publications are also available from our co-publisher Bernan Press , 4611-F Assembly Drive, Lanham, MD 20706-4391, United States 
Next reviews: 
India : 23 and 25 May 2007 
Central African Republic : 11 and 13 June 2007 
Indonesia: 27 and 29 June 2007 
 For a full list of previous trade policy reviews and the full programme of future reviews go to 
http://www.wto.org/english/trat op_e/tpr_e/tpr_ e.htm#reviews 
or follow this path : www.wto.org > trade topics > trade policy reviews  
 
 
END