A validation agreement has been signed between the European Patent Office and Costa Rica. It was signed on 13 December 2024 and is expected to enter into force shortly, making Costa Rica the seventh country to become a "European" validation state. Under the agreement, European Patents can be validated in Costa Rica and have the same effect as a national patent in that territory.
Validation states (which also include Cambodia, Morocco, Moldova, Tunisia, Georgia and Laos) must be selected around the time of filing. Furthermore, the date of the agreement determines availability of the particular validation state. Therefore only newly filed European patent applications and PCT applications will initially have access to Costa Rica as a validation state.