It helps to be familiar with the alphabet soup of regulatory agencies you will be dealing with during the permitting process. Following, a brief list:

MINAET (www.minaet.go.cr): The Ministerio del Ambiente, Energía, y Telecomunicaciones, or Minstery of Environment, Energy, and Telecommunications. This is the big cheese when it comes to environmental regulation in Costa Rica. Permits to cut down trees, drill wells, and mine anything must pass through one of its many branches.

SETENA: The Secretaría Técnica Nacional Ambiental, or the National Technical Environmental Secretariat. A branch of MINAET. SETENA is the bugaboo of many a would-be developer, as this is the agency that reviews the environmental impact of developments and gives them the thumbs up or thumbs down. Its infamy comes from the incredibly slow process of the environmental review. For developments that have to do a full impact study, the entire processes takes about two years, often more.

ICE: The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, or Costa Rican Electricity Institute. The government monopoly that controls all electricity generation and distribution and, until recently, telecommunications.

AyA: The Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados. Basically the state water utility. AyA does not have national coverage, and in many parts of the country outside the Central Valley, developers have to get water permits elsewhere.

ASADA: Asociaciones Administradoras de Sistemas de Acueductos y Alcantarillados Sanitarios, or Administration Association of Sewer and Aqueduct Systems. In some parts of the country, these are the associations that manage the water supply. They are local, and whether you have to deal with one depends entirely on where your property is located.

INVU: The Instituto Nacional de Vivienda y Urbanismo, or the National Housing and Urbanism Institute. INVU is supposedly in charge of urban planning, meaning that all condominium and subdivision developments need its seal of approval.

ICT: The Instituto Costarricense de Turismo, or the Costa Rica Tourism Board. Anything that has to do with the Maritime Zone (i.e. – coastal land within 200 m. of high tide) happens through the ICT. Also, permits for hotel and restaurant operations.

Ministerio de Salud: The Health Ministry. Salud oversees everything having to do with public health, including wastewater disposal and water treatment, as well as health certifications for hotels and restaurants.

CFIA: Colegio Federado de Ingenieros y Arquitectos, or the Federated Association of Engineers and Architects. This government-sanctioned professional association must give the OK to all construction projects. The Association is primarily concerned with technical design issues.