Costa Rica has joined trade agreements covering cooperation commitments on open transfers of cross-border data flows, however none of these commitments include binding rules on cross-border data transfers. These include:
- Art. 15.5.d of the Tratado de Libre Comercio entre los Estados Unidos Mexicanos y las Repúblicas de Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras y Nicaragua;
- Art. 16.7.c of the Tratado de Libre Comercio entre la República de Colombia y la República de Costa Rica.

Costa Rica has not appended the World Trade Organization (WTO) Telecom Reference Paper to its schedule of commitments.

It is reported that the Costa Rica's Telecommunications Superintendency (SUTEL), the executive authority for the supervision and administration of services in the telecommunications sector, is independent from the government in the decision-making process.

Costa Rica mandates functional and accounting separation for operators with significant market power (SMP) in the telecom market. According to Art. 34 of the Regulation of access and Interconnection of telecommunication networks, operators or providers involved in network access and/or interconnection shall prepare, maintain and submit to Sutel financial statements with separate cost accounting for their activities related to access and interconnection, as well as for the different services and/or networks in which they provide services. The separation of accounts shall be submitted to Sutel accompanied by a report made by an auditor external to the operator or provider, showing the consistency of such information with the corresponding financial statements, the respect for the segmentation principles set forth in this article and that the segmented information represents a true and fair view of the contribution to the overall result of each segment.

The main fixed-line operator, the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (Costa Rican Institute of Electricity, ICE) is fully state-owned. ICE is an autonomous entity that is part of the Costa Rican state that was organized under the laws of the Republic through Executive Order No. 449 and Act 3226. It is reported that there is no intention to privatize.

According to Art. 121, Par. 14 (c) of the Constitution of Costa Rica, wireless services cannot be permanently removed from State ownership. Both Art. 28 of Law No. 8,642 and Art. 7 of Law No. 8,660 state that fixed telephony services are subject to a special legislative concession regime.

The state-owned company ICE continues to hold the monopoly on the provision of traditional basic fixed telephony. Yet, in addition to ICE, there are 13 providers on the fixed services market using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology and 56 providers of Internet services. ICE and four other operators (Telefónica (Movistar), América Móvil (Claro) and two mobile virtual network operators (RACSA and Televisora de Costa Rica) provide mobile telephony services in Costa Rica.

There is an obligation for passive infrastructure sharing in the country to deliver telecom services to end users. It is practiced in the mobile sector and in the fixed sector based on commercial agreements. Regulations on infrastructure sharing for the support of public telecommunication networks regulates the sharing of infrastructure for public telecommunications networks in Costa Rica.

The Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) is a fully state-owned enterprise and acquisition of shares need to be approved through special laws.

Moreover, according to Law No. 7789, Art. 15, foreign participation in public or private telecommunication companies entering into joint ventures with the state-owned Heredia Public Services Company (ESPH) is limited to a maximum of 49% of the capital stock.

Law No. 7,975 and its Regulation (No. 34927-J-COMEX-S-MAG) provide a framework for effective protection of trade secrets.

Costa Rica has ratified the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Performances and Phonograms Treaty.

It is reported that the rate of unlicensed software installation in the country was 58% in 2017 (above the 52% rate of the Latin American countries) for an estimated commercial value of USD 80 million. Nevertheless, it is reported that Costa Rica made concrete steps to improve its intellectual property (IP) regime, including addressing unlicensed software use in the central government and implementing an online recordation system to improve border enforcement.

Costa Rica has ratified the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty.

Costa rica has a copyright regime under the Law No. 6,683. However, the exceptions does not follow the fair use or fair dealing model, therefore limiting the lawful use of copyrighted work by others. Arts. 67-76 list the exceptions, which include the reproduction of: news that have the character of mere press information; speeches made in deliberative assemblies or public meetings, works for educational or scientific purposes, among others.

Costa Rica is a party to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

According to Art. 34 of the Law No. 6867 on Patents, Industrial Designs and Utility Models, it is mandatory to appoint a local representative to file a patent application if the applicant has a domicile or headquarters outside of Costa Rica.

In general, there are no restrictions based on nationality for directors and managers of telecommunications companies. However, in the case of the Costa Rican Institute for Electricity (ICE), a major public company providing electricity and telecommunications services, all directors must be Costa Rican nationals. This required is in Art. 10 of Law of Creation of the Costa Rican Electricity Institute, which states that the superior administration of the ICE shall correspond to a Board of Directors and that all of them must be Costa Ricans characterized by their honorability.