Costa Rica has removed a 10 percent tax on imported beers that discriminated against those from the EU, putting them at a disadvantage compared to domestic beers, the

By removing this tax, EU beers will now have equal access to the Costa Rican market and will benefit from increasing EU beer exports to the Central American country.

The EU is working with Costa Rica under the Association Agreement to resolve this long-standing problem.

Until now, Costa Rica applied a 10 percent tax on the sales price of alcoholic beverages, with the exception of Costa Rican beer.

In a joint declaration annexed to the EU-Central America Association Agreement, Costa Rica committed to review its domestic taxes on beer by October 2014. In the years since this commitment, the EU has regularly insisted that this review be carried out through discussions within institutional channels of the Agreement, at bilateral ministerial meetings and in discussions with members of the Costa Rican Parliament.

Thanks to this persistent dialogue, sufficient support was created in the Costa Rican parliament and administration for the abolition of the tax.

Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chávez signed the law into law on February 15 of this year.

Beer sales in Europe may decline due to price hikes

The law will enter into force immediately after its publication in the Official Gazette of Costa Rica. 

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