In-bond trucking in Costa Rica: customs to customs, with a licensed carrier.

Domestic transit. indicative By law, the transit must start within 72 calendar hours of acceptance of the declaration (Ley General de Aduanas, art. 140). Indicative, according to the Ministry of Finance manual of February 2021 (validity in 2026 not confirmed): from port to a temporary parking facility a viaje is enough; from port to a bonded warehouse a transfer DUA (same jurisdiction) or a transit DUA (another jurisdiction) is required. From the port to the temporary parking facility or to the bonded warehouse in the same jurisdiction, the run must not exceed one hour. The system indicates, based on risk, whether the unit carries an electronic seal; between bonded warehouses it always does.

International transit. In every overland move under customs control that crosses at least one Central American border. It is transmitted before the unit arrives at the customs office of departure, with the commercial invoice, the transport document and permits where they apply.

International transit is governed by the Reglamento sobre el Régimen de Tránsito Aduanero Internacional Terrestre (anexo de la Resolución 480-2023 COMIECO-EX, vigente desde el 16-may-2024), the regional regulation on international overland customs transit, signed by Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Panama. This is how a transit runs, from the declaration to the closing:

1. Before reaching the customs office of departureThe carrier transmits the DUCA-T electronically. The driver represents the carrier in the transit formalities.Declaration
2. At the customs office of departureThe seal is verified, the legal route is set and the deadline to reach the destination is fixed.Start
3. On the roadThe goods are not physically inspected, unless there are signs of an infraction. Routes and deadlines are set by each country: the regulation gives no hours or routes.Transit
4. At the customs office of destinationThe DUCA-T, the unit and the goods are presented. Customs verifies the seal, the carrier code, the route, the deadline and the packages, and the transit ends.Closing

Security devices that close the unit during transit: seals, mechanical or electronic customs seals (marchamos) and customs stamps. They carry the ISO code of the country and a unique number, and are single-use, except for reusable electronic ones.

In transit. In customs transit (in-bond): the seal of the customs office of departure is valid in the other countries for the whole route, and only customs can break it or authorize breaking it. The regional regulation does not impose a mandatory electronic seal; in Costa Rica, transfers and transits use an electronic seal as determined by Costa Rica’s Directorate General of Customs (Ley General de Aduanas, art. 141 bis).

Who provides them. They are acquired and distributed by customs or by whoever customs authorizes; the cost is paid by the interested party. In Costa Rica the electronic seal can be supplied by approved private companies.

Authorized routes: 1, 2, 4, 14, 21, 23, 27, 32, 34, 35, 36, 39, 100, 108, 109, 126, 140, 141, 218, 250, 751 and the Radial El Coyol. The Directorate General of Customs can authorize other routes and times by resolution.

• Copy of the bill of lading (B/L): number, date and consignee as shown on the manifest.
• Copy of the commercial invoice: number, date and value.
• Description of the goods (nature, trade name, type of packaging), number of packages and gross weight in kg.
• Container number and the numbers of the seals it arrived with.
• Exact destination: name and code of the bonded warehouse, controlling customs office and the customs regime the cargo will enter.
• Permits, import permits (notas técnicas) or sanitary certificates if the goods are regulated, and notice of any hold.
• Notice if the cargo is refrigerated, frozen, toxic or hazardous.
• Notice if the cargo is oversize or cannot travel in a closed, sealed unit.
• Packing list, if the goods are mixed and the invoice does not detail the contents of each package (customs may require it; Ministry of Finance manual of 2021).
• Estimated pickup date: the transit must start within 72 calendar hours of acceptance of the declaration, and it may require an electronic seal (seal: Ministry of Finance manual of 2021).
• Indicative (draft rule under public consultation in July 2026; final publication not confirmed): consignee ID, customs value, 12-digit tariff classification, net weight, supplier and invoice lines.

• Commercial invoice as a legible PDF (maximum 1 MB per file).
• Number of the DUCA-F already transmitted (originating goods), or of the export declaration or DUCA-D (non-originating goods), with the exporter’s tax ID.
• Data for the waybill (carta de porte): shipper, consignee, loading place, delivery place and description of the cargo.
• Importer: name or company name, tax address, and the type, number and country of the ID document. Exporter: name and tax address, and its ID if it is domiciled in Central America.
• For each line of goods: tariff classification, description, number and type of packages, gross weight in kg and country of origin.
• Values: transaction value, freight and other costs; insurance is optional.
• Customs office of destination and, where it applies, the bonded warehouse, free trade zone or company of destination (it must be an authorized location).
• Phytosanitary or zoosanitary certificates and other permits, if the cargo is of quarantine interest or regulated.
• Overseas cargo: bill of lading. Consolidated cargo for several consignees: data for the manifest and for each consignee’s declarations and transport documents.
• Cargo leaving the Colón Free Zone: endorsed Declaración de Salida de Mercancías, the declaration of exit of goods (Costa Rica requires it on entry, according to the Ministry of Finance manual of 2021; indicative). indicative
• Packing list: recommended; it is not a mandatory document under the regional regulation.
• Confirm with the carrier the country where the cargo is loaded: Panama prohibits carriers with CR, NI and HN codes from loading there (Memorandum 021-2025-DG of March 12, 2025, a measure subject to change), and Costa Rica does not allow foreign units to do domestic transport. indicative
• Route through Peñas Blancas: confirm that the unit carries an RFID tag, mandatory since November 2025 according to a notice from Panama’s customs authority dated September 30, 2025 (not confirmed in a Costa Rican source). indicative

It is the regime that allows goods that have not been cleared yet to move overland, under customs control, between a customs office of departure and a customs office of destination. You need it when your cargo arrives at a port and moves on uncleared to a bonded warehouse or a free trade zone, or when it crosses a Central American border by road.

Domestic transit happens within Costa Rica, for example from the port to a bonded warehouse, and is covered by a national declaration: the transit or transfer DUA. International transit crosses at least one Central American border and is covered by the DUCA-T. What changes is the declaration and who transmits it; in both, the route and the deadline are set by customs.

International overland customs transit declaration: it states what is on the truck, which customs office it leaves from, where it passes through and which one it arrives at. It covers the cargo of a single means of transport and serves as the manifest, except for overseas or consolidated cargo. Who transmits it: the authorized overland carrier, in SIECA’s regional portal, with the user account issued by the customs authority of its country. Nicaragua operates with its own system.

Yes: our overland customs carrier code with Costa Rica’s Directorate General of Customs is CR02343, for domestic and international transit. It is printed on our waybills. If your vendor onboarding asks for proof, request it by email or WhatsApp before the first trip.

The deadline and the route of each transit are set by the customs office of departure; within Costa Rica there is an official table of maximum driving hours between customs offices, which is on this page. Missing the deadline or leaving the authorized route is an infraction, and the penalty is defined by each country’s law. If something unforeseen happens on the road, customs or the nearest authority is notified at once.

During transit only customs can break a seal or authorize breaking it; removing it without customs is an infraction. That is why the seal numbers go on the waybill and are checked at every stop and at delivery. If something comes up, the driver reports to the monitoring center within a maximum of five minutes, and we tell you what happened and what comes next.

In international customs transit the goods travel with duties and taxes suspended between the customs office of departure and the customs office of destination. What is paid depends on the regime the cargo is assigned to when it arrives, and that is defined by the importer with its customs broker. This answer is a reference, not customs advice.

To move the cargo, not always: the DUCA-T is transmitted by the carrier, and in Costa Rica a domestic transit can be declared by the licensed customs carrier or by a customs broker. For what comes afterwards, yes: importing, exporting or entering the goods into another regime needs its own declaration, filed by the importer or the exporter. How it is transmitted in each country is confirmed with the customs broker.