OECD Review Highlights Strengths and Opportunities in Costa Rica’s One-Stop Shop for Investment

By IDEAS

The OECD's recent evaluation assesses Costa Rica’s One-Stop Shop for Investment (VUI), acknowledging its strides in simplification and digitization while recommending enhancements in governance, user orientation, and institutional coordination.

The OECD's evaluation of Costa Rica’s VUI underscores its role as a centralized, digitally supported mechanism—led by PROCOMER—to simplify business startup procedures, initially in free trade zones and now encompassing all company types. It benefits from strong political backing, proactive leadership, and a robust regulatory framework that facilitates efficient management of the technological platform.

Yet the report identifies persistent challenges such as weak coordination between PROCOMER and the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce (MEIC), limited input from municipal governments despite their operational role, and public consultations that have often failed to fully address stakeholder needs. Technologically, though the VUI features essential digital tools—procedures registry, georeferenced mapping, payment functionality, digital file storage, and partial digital signatures—many processes remain not fully digital, and the digital inspection module is still in early development.

The VUI’s evolution reflects a meticulously mapped roadmap beginning in 2021, which included formalization through agreements with municipalities, territorial deployment, technological infrastructure build-out, and integration of automated processing for company establishment. This strategic planning effort demonstrates a phased and methodical approach to scaling the One-Stop Shop tailored to national and local contexts.

Governance of the VUI is supported by a clearly defined institutional framework: PROCOMER governs the initiative under the oversight of its board, which is chaired by the Ministry of Foreign Trade (COMEX) and includes representatives from both government and private sector institutions. This structure provides legitimacy and ensures alignment across key stakeholders, albeit requiring more inclusive engagement with subnational actors.

To elevate the VUI’s impact, the OECD advocates for a stronger user-centric model by implementing a “life event” approach, framing services around stages of the business journey rather than fragmented procedures. Additionally, it recommends that PROCOMER establish well-defined short, medium, and long-term strategic objectives to guide continued simplification efforts, comprehensive digital transformation, inclusive governance, and more dynamic public engagement