"Article 4.—Once the foreign vessel has entered the country, the owner of the vessel or a representative duly authorized by the latter, to obtain the 'Permit for the Stay of a Foreign Vessel in National Waters' or the 'Permit for the Stay of a Foreign Vessel in National Waters for Carrying out Commercial Activities in the Provision of Services as a Tourist Cruise', must comply obligatorily with the following requirements:
- 1)The owner or authorized representative must submit a written request, addressed to the Director General of the Directorate of Navigation and Safety of the Maritime Port Division of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, requesting the issuance of the corresponding permit in accordance with article 21 of Law Nº 7744, Law on the Concession and Operation of Tourist Marinas and the Regulation to the Law on the Concession and Operation of Tourist Marinas, Decree Nº 27030-TURMINAE- S-MOPT.
- 2)The following requirements must be included and provided in the request:
- a)Original and photocopy of the passport of the foreign vessel owner or, original and photocopy of the passport or identity document of the legal representative authorized to manage the procedures before the Directorate of Navigation and Safety of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport.
- b)Original and photocopy of the certificate of ownership or of the current instrument accrediting the ownership or legitimate possession of the foreign vessel for verification. If the expiration date of the document is expired at the time of the permit or extension request, it shall be rejected by means of a duly reasoned resolution by the Directorate of Navigation and Safety.
- c)Sworn statement by the owner or authorized representative made before the Directorate of Navigation and Safety, in which the authenticity and legitimacy of the certificate of ownership or of the instrument accrediting the ownership or legitimate possession of the foreign vessel and the characteristics of the vessel are attested to, also indicating: name of the vessel, registration number, owner or shipowner, operational use, port of origin, hull material, gross tonnage, net tonnage, length overall (eslora), beam (manga), depth (puntal), year of construction, date of issue and date of expiration of the certificate.
In cases where the country in which the vessel is registered does not issue the requested documentation, the owner or duly accredited legal representative must so indicate in said sworn statement, stating the duly reasoned basis for the material impossibility of presenting the documentation, thereby assuming all responsibility for the statements made under oath.
- d)Certification of the mandate or power of attorney granted to the legal representative. In cases where this is in a language other than Spanish, the corresponding translation must be provided in accordance with subsection g) below.
- e)When the owner of a foreign vessel is a company or corporation domiciled outside of Costa Rica, a document issued by the Companies Registry of the host country must be presented, stating that the company is in good standing and identifying the members of the Board of Directors who may act on its behalf, or a copy of the legal documents stating the incorporation and registration of the company.
- f)The applicant must present the original certificate issued by the authorized representative of the Tourist Marina or Tourist Mooring where the foreign vessel is anchored, stating that, in view of the User Registry of the Marina or Tourist Mooring, the owner or authorized legal representative of the foreign vessel has signed a contract on behalf of the foreign vessel in question and that effective use will be made of the tourist marina or tourist mooring, and it must specifically indicate the type of contract signed by the interested party with the marina or tourist mooring and indicate the term of validity and the expiry date of said contract.
- g)The applicant must obligatorily provide the corresponding official translation into the Spanish language of all documents issued in foreign languages, a translation that may be carried out by an official translator or interpreter of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship, in accordance with the Law on Official Translations and Interpretations Nº 8142 of November 5, 2001, published in the Official Gazette La Gaceta Nº 227 of November 26, 2001.
Failing that, the translation carried out by a Notary Public in accordance with article 109 of the Notarial Code (Law Nº 7764 of April 17, 1998, published in the Official Gazette La Gaceta Nº 98, Alcance Nº 17 of May 22, 1998) shall also be valid; the Notary Public must attach to the translation a note stating: 'In accordance with article 109 of the Notarial Code and based on the undersigned notary's knowledge of the (indicate the original language in which the translated document is written) language, I proceed to translate, under my responsibility, the document that literally reads as follows and which I am attaching.' h) The Directorate of Navigation and Safety of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, once the request for said permits and/or extensions has been received, shall order ex officio the officials of the Directorate of Navigation and Safety or the officials of the pertinent Port Captaincy to carry out the corresponding inspection in order to verify that the vessel is anchored in the tourist marina or tourist mooring in question and that it is using the services offered and making effective use of said facilities.
Said inspection shall be carried out by officials of the Directorate General of Navigation and Safety or by officials of the respective Port Captaincy, at the request of the interested party or by the Directorate General of Navigation and Safety of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, in which case it must be carried out within three days following receipt of the request. No permit or extension procedure shall be processed until said inspection has been added to the corresponding administrative file (expediente administrativo) for the foreign vessel.
The delay in faithfully complying with the aforementioned inspection within the indicated period shall entail administrative liability for those responsible, for which purpose the Legal Advisory Office of the Directorate of Navigation and Safety shall initiate the corresponding administrative proceedings while respecting the rules of constitutional due process. Once said period has expired and the inspection has not been carried out, the respective permit shall be granted disregarding said requirement.
- 3)For requests concerning the issuance of 'Permits for the Stay of a Foreign Vessel in National Waters for Carrying out Commercial Activities in the Provision of Tourist Cruise-type Services,' in addition to the requirements demanded in parts 1 and 2 cited above, the following shall be required:
- a)Have lifeboats and life jackets for the totality of its passengers.
- b)Those interested in obtaining the 'Permit for the Stay of a Foreign Vessel in National Waters for Carrying out Commercial Activities in the Provision of Services as a Tourist Cruise' shall be obliged to present a copy of the civil liability insurance policies for the maximum number of passengers that each vessel carries, the term of which covers the entirety of the validity of the contract signed with the Tourist Marina or Tourist Mooring.
- 4)For the administrative procedure of the so-called 'Extensions of Stay of a Foreign Vessel in National Waters' and 'Extensions of Stay of a Foreign Vessel in National Waters for Carrying out Commercial Activities in the Provision of Services as a Tourist Cruise,' only the documents that have expired in the file (expediente) shall be requested, which must be renewed by the permit holders. The list of documents that must be presented in these cases must be indicated by the Directorate of Navigation and Safety. The interested party may begin the renewal procedures for the respective permits one month in advance.
If all the documentation is in order, the Directorate of Navigation and Safety of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport shall grant the respective permits or the pertinent extensions, within a period of three business days, via an administrative resolution for the period set forth in the contract signed by the owner of the vessel or authorized representative with the Tourist Marina or mooring, renewable for the periods stipulated in the mentioned contract, which authorizes the foreign vessel to remain legally within the national territory for that period.
In the same manner, the Directorate of Navigation and Safety of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport shall issue the respective 'certificate' to the interested party with the information of the case. If the documentation is not in order, the Directorate of Navigation and Safety shall notify the interested party, on a single occasion and in writing, to complete the omitted requirements in the request or procedure or to clarify information within a period of ten business days.
"Article 6.—The Directorate of Navigation and Safety of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport is hereby obligated to keep records and controls of the permits and extensions it grants, as well as their cancellation. The aforementioned Directorate shall communicate the granting of permits and extensions by sending an executive summary to the Directorate General of Customs, to the Directorate General of the National Coast Guard Service of the Ministry of Public Security, to the Directorate General of Migration and Foreign Affairs, to the Costa Rican Institute of Fisheries and Aquaculture, to the Regional Director of the Ministry of Health of the Central Pacific Region, to the Inter-institutional Commission for Tourist Marinas and Moorings of the Costa Rican Tourism Institute and to the Department of Agricultural Quarantine of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, for the pertinent procedures and controls in the field of competence of each of these agencies.
The Port Captaincy, in coordination with the National Coast Guard Service, must obligatorily schedule a monthly control to verify that in their navigation activities these foreign vessels do not violate the prohibitions established by law.
The Legal Advisory Office of the Directorate of Navigation and Safety is constituted as the governing body in charge of carrying out the administrative procedures in the cases established by articles 45, 48, 54, 55, 56 and 57 of the Regulation to the Law on the Concession and Operation of Tourist Marinas and articles 8 and 10 of Executive Decree Nº 29022-MOPT".
(Thus amended by article 1 of executive decree Nº 32304, of February 23, 2005).