Costa Rica ranked 46 among 86 countries in the Global Illicit Trade Environment Index, and is in seventh place in the America’s.

“The Global Illicit Trade Environment Index is commissioned by the Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade (TRACIT) and produced by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)”, explains the Tracit.org website. “The Index evaluates 84 countries on their structural capability to guard against illicit trade, highlighting specific strengths and weaknesses across four policy areas: Transparency and Trade, Customs Environment, Supply and Demand and Government Policy.”

“In addition, the Index features a number of indicators that address corruption, intellectual property protection, law enforcement, criminal activity, Free Trade Zone (FTZ) governance, and illicit financial flows”.

“The objective of the Index is to improve the knowledge and understanding of the regulatory environment and economic circumstances that enable illicit trade.”

The report offers policy recommendations to combat illicit trade for Costa Rica, among them, interagency coordination; an upgrade in public-private coordination; take strong proactive measures to protect Costa Rica from imports from the free trade zone of Colon (Panama), which as become a transit hub for contraband; tackle pervasive corrupt practices; increase efficiency of customs procedures; strengthen criminal penalties; ensure he use of licensed software in government entities and pursue law enforcement and customs cooperation within Latin America.

The research findings help inform governments on the effectiveness of their efforts to fight illicit trade and establish policy priorities identifying areas that merit greater attention.