Costa Rica Revamps and Digitalizes Its Country Brand Licensing Protocol

By IDEAS

Esencial COSTA RICA, Costa Rica's country brand, has renewed, simplified, and digitalized its corporate licensing scheme, which allows companies to join the Country Brand community under updated standards aligned with the brand's vision and international trends. 

What Is Esencial Costa Rica?

Esencial COSTA RICA is the nation branding of the Republic of Costa Rica, implemented to project the country's image in international markets. Its purpose is to promote exports, attract foreign direct investment, encourage tourism, and highlight Costa Rican culture. It also aims to foster competitiveness among national companies, improve quality standards, and generate a community of licensed companies that promote business both in Costa Rica and abroad. 

The brand is governed by an institutional council composed of the Costa Rican Foreign Trade Promoter (PROCOMER), the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT), the Ministry of Foreign Trade (COMEX), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship, and the Ministry of Culture and Youth. It was created through Executive Decree No. 37669-RE-COMEX-TUR on March 22, 2013. 

PROCOMER is the executive agency responsible for the implementation, promotion, and application of the Nation Brand, covering issues related to attracting investments, exports, SME exporters with export potential, and foreign trade in general. 

Key Changes to the Licensing Protocol

Among the principal innovations of the updated licensing scheme is a reduction in the number of evaluation indicators — from 104 down to 75 — the alignment with more than 40 internationally recognized certifications, and the launch of a digital platform that centralizes, standardizes, and significantly improves the experience for companies applying for the license. 

Through this alignment, certifications such as Fairtrade, FSC, GLOBALG.A.P., FSSC 22000, and ISO 14064-1, among others, will allow companies that already hold these standards to advance more efficiently through the licensing process, with their previously verified good practices recognized.

The evaluation process continues to be carried out by certification bodies accredited by the Costa Rican Accreditation Entity (ECA) under the INTE-ISO/IEC 17065 standard, ensuring objectivity, transparency, and technical rigor in the granting of the license. 

IP and Licensing Dimension

The Esencial Costa Rica license constitutes a form of collective or certification mark — a state-backed IP instrument that allows authorized companies to use the country brand on products, packaging, institutional communications, and in international markets. The license grants the right to display the Esencial COSTA RICA trademark, subject to compliance with the evaluation protocol and ongoing regulatory requirements. The license can be used in institutional communications such as websites, social networks, stationery, and physical locations, as well as on product packaging, labels, and containers. Changes to ownership, mergers, or acquisitions must be reported to PROCOMER, as they may affect the status of the license.

Current Licensee Community

More than 780 companies currently form part of the licensee community. Of these, 70% are SMEs, 68% belong to the export sector, and 26% operate outside the Greater Metropolitan Area of San José. 

In international rankings, Costa Rica placed fourth in the Americas in the Bloom Consulting Country Brand Ranking Tourism edition 2024–2025, and tenth in the region in the Trade edition. In the 2025 RepCore Nation ranking, which measures how G7 countries perceive other nations, Costa Rica ranked first in reputation among Latin American countries.