Latin America and the Caribbean
Source tier A. Conventions checked 2026-07-29.
Drug and firearms law in Costa Rica: statutes on record and in force
Costa Rica, in Latin America and the Caribbean, is party to all four of the instruments tracked here, the last of them since 2007. It appears on neither FATF list. Its confirmed instrument on record is the Law No. 8204: Complete Revision of the Law on Narcotics, Psychotropic Substances, Drugs of Unauthorized Use and Related Activities. Nothing below is asserted without the document it came from being named alongside it.
International framework
Costa Rica is bound by all four instruments this dataset tracks, the earliest from 1991 and the most recent from 2007.
| Instrument | Adopted | Ratified or acceded | Depositary reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 Convention | 1988 | 8 Feb 1991 | Chapter VI-19 |
| UNTOC | 2000 | 24 Jul 2003 | Chapter XVIII-12 |
| UNCAC | 2003 | 21 Mar 2007 | Chapter XVIII-14 |
| Firearms Protocol | 2001 | 9 Sep 2003 | Chapter XVIII-12-c |
What each instrument obliges a party to do is set out once, per instrument, in the conventions reference. The dates above are what is specific to Costa Rica: they are the points from which each obligation began to bind, taken from the depositary's own status tables.
National legislation
The following instruments have been confirmed against a citable national source. Titles are given as enacted and are not translated.
Law No. 8204: Complete Revision of the Law on Narcotics, Psychotropic Substances, Drugs of Unauthorized Use and Related Activities (No. 8204) — A principal drug control instrument, carrying the 1988 Convention's trafficking and confiscation obligations into domestic law. Confirmed against the UNODC legal library, checked 2026-07-30.
Enforcement authorities
3 bodies are named in the record for Costa Rica, each confirmed on Costa Rica's own government domain. Reading this alongside the treaty position is the point: the conventions say what must be criminalised, and these are the institutions through which that reaches a consignment or a suspect.
| Body | Function | Confirmed on |
|---|---|---|
| Policía de Control de Drogas | dedicated drug-control mandate | seguridadpublica.go.cr |
| Dirección General de Aduanas | customs and border control | portaldecomercio.comex.go.cr |
| Ministerio de Seguridad Pública | policy and oversight | seguridadpublica.go.cr |
Ratification sequence
Which instrument came first says something the total does not. Costa Rica came to these instruments over 16 years, beginning with the 1988 Convention in 1991 and ending with the UNCAC in 2007. Measured against each instrument's own adoption, the shortest gap was the Firearms Protocol at 2 years, the longest the UNCAC at 4.
Costa Rica became a party to the 1988 Convention in 1991, 3 years after it was adopted — faster than the median lag of 5 years across this dataset.
The gaps between those dates are the part worth reading. For the 12 years between 1991 and 2003, Costa Rica was bound by the 1988 Convention but not yet by the UNTOC, the Firearms Protocol or the UNCAC. For the 4 years between 2003 and 2007, Costa Rica was bound by the 1988 Convention, the UNTOC and the Firearms Protocol but not yet by the UNCAC. The practical effect is on what could be charged, and on what could be confiscated, in the years before the later instruments arrived.
On coverage, Costa Rica is one of 81 jurisdiction s here party to 4 of the four, against 81 party to all four. Latin America and the Caribbean accounts for 33 of the records here; 3 of them carry a current monitoring listing.
Position on the trafficking corridors
Costa Rica sits on the central american isthmus, one of the six corridors profiled here. Its legal position on that route is the one set out on this page.
The Central American isthmus — 9 jurisdictions, carrying cocaine. The legs either side of Costa Rica in the reporting are Panama and Nicaragua. Across the corridor as a whole, 7 of the 9 legs are party to all four instruments, 2 sit outside the Firearms Protocol, every leg carries a confirmed national instrument , and none is under increased monitoring. Costa Rica clears all three of those checks. The corridor profile carries the leg-by-leg comparison.
Financial-crime monitoring
As of the FATF plenary statements of 2026-06-19, Costa Rica is recorded as Not listed . Nothing here is a finding about Costa Rica's financial controls; it records only that neither statement names it. The current statement and what it changed are tracked on the FATF grey list tracker.
Questions about drug and firearms law in Costa Rica
Which drug-control conventions has Costa Rica ratified?
All four: the 1988 Convention on 8 Feb 1991, the UNTOC on 24 Jul 2003, the UNCAC on 21 Mar 2007, the Firearms Protocol on 9 Sep 2003.
Is Costa Rica on the FATF grey list?
No. Costa Rica appears on neither the increased-monitoring list nor the call-for-action list in the FATF statements of 19 June 2026.
What national drug legislation is on record for Costa Rica?
Law No. 8204: Complete Revision of the Law on Narcotics, Psychotropic Substances, Drugs of Unauthorized Use and Related Activities (No. 8204), confirmed against the UNODC legal library.
Which register confirms the legislation on this page?
Each instrument names its own. For Costa Rica that is the UNODC legal library. The citation is to the issuing register rather than to any account of it, so the text can be read as enacted.
What is source tier A, and why is this record in it?
Tier A means a national instrument has been confirmed against an official register — for Costa Rica, 1 of them. The treaty dates and the listing status are separately sourced, so all three layers of this record carry a citation.
Why does the ratification date matter?
The date is the point from which the obligations bind. Costa Rica's earliest of these commitments dates from 1991, its most recent from 2007; the gap between them is a rough measure of how long the framework took to assemble.
Sources
- Ratification dates: United Nations Treaty Collection, depositary status tables (chapters VI-19, XVIII-12, XVIII-14, XVIII-12-c). Checked 2026-07-29.
- Listing status: FATF, Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring and High-Risk Jurisdictions subject to a Call for Action, 2026-06-19.
- Law No. 8204: Complete Revision of the Law on Narcotics, Psychotropic Substances, Drugs of Unauthorized Use and Related Activities: the UNODC legal library, checked 2026-07-30.