Carlos Ricardo Benavides, president of Congress and deputy of the PLN, has made a proposal that liquor labeling control be optional. This follows a plan by his colleague Daniel Ulate that would make it mandatory.
The motions have to do with hiring a liquor tracking service to work with labeling and barcodes. While this could be beneficial, many question if it would be worth the cost. It would cost taxpayers between ₡3,365 million and ₡154m642 million annually. It would create a deficit unless the taxes on drinks were raised by at least 31.5%.
Benavides suggests doing an evaluation of the cost-benefit and leaving it up to the Ministry of Finance whether or not to go ahead with the hire or come up with some other mechanism to control the legal importation and production of alcoholic beverages.
If the ministry requires hiring a service provider it must do so through public, open and transparent bidding, in order to comply with Costa Rica’s established anti-corruption commitments.
