The Costa Rican Central Bank is implementing a new directive that establishes that on purchases of 15,000 colones (approx. $26.50) or less when paying with debit or credit cards with chip or contactless technology presenting the ID and/or signing the voucher will no longer be necessary.

According to Carlos Melegatti, director of the Payment’s Systems Division of the Central Bank, currently close to 60% of the cards have the chip and/or contactless technology, and it is expected that by the end of this year 100% of them will have it. 65% of the Points of Sale (POS) have also been updated to serve this technology.

This regulation came into effect since May 14, however, many commercial spots are still not aware of it while others have established their own rules on when to request ID or a signed voucher; Melegatti explained that for this reason they are trying to ensure everyone is aware of the regulations and start implementing it accordingly.

As of July 1st, 2018, financial entities in Costa Rica also have the obligation of notifying their clients immediately when any movement is made in their account.

The purpose of these changes is to make the use of card payments more efficient and safer. Other changes are planned to be in place at the latest by January 1st, 2021 which involve changing the way of identifying the client, instead of the signature a PIN or biometric system will be requested; and finally the POS must be accessible to the client in such a way that users do not need to hand their card over to a third party to run the payment.