Update Persona Juridica certifcation online for a Costa Rican Corporation

If you have a Sociedad de Responsibilidad Limitada (SRL) (which is similar to a US LLC), you may need to present an up-to-date registry-issued certificate regarding the identity of the persona juridica (legal representative) before performing certain significant tasks on behalf of that corporation. For instance, since the authorized representative can change, you will find that, before you can perform certain tasks like opening a bank account in the name of the corporation, transferring funds from accounts in the corporation's name, applying to the Costa Rican Registro Nacional register a business name and so on, banks will request an updated certificate so they can verify whether they can deal with the person before them as a currently authorized representative. Banks will therefore check the 'Nombamientos' section of the document to verify the identity and identification number of the current persona juridica. They can then check back with the personal identification that the representative carries. Banks can also see the authorized role of the representative.

The 'Datos Generales' section at the top of the document (pictured at the top of this page also gives the bank or any party a quick summary of the business and the authorized types of activity that the counterparty can expect.

 

The 2 ways of requesting updating this certification is in person and online, the latter of which expires within only 15 days. This post explains the methods.

Request an updated version of the personeria juridica certification in person

• Visit any Banco de Costa Rica (BCR) branch. You do NOT need anything other than the registration number. After all, this document can be requested by anyone.
• Join the line labeled 'timbres fiscales' (which means stamp duties). You will be required to pay the stamp duty of roughly 3,100 colones.
• Join the other line where clerks will issue any of a variety of certificates.

Update the persona juridica certification online via the Registro Nacional website

• Go to the Registro Nacional website
• Go to the 'Carrito de Compras'. Select 'Personeria Juridica' (as pictured below). Then click 'excepciones'.

• See option 3-102. This appears to be a completely useless step as it does not register in the transaction.

• Click the shopping cart next to the type of document that you require as pictured immediately below. Beware, every time you click this button, the system registers 1 document and records this in your shopping cart at the bottom of the page. If you have accidentally clicked multiple times, you can manually change the number of documents by typing over it.

• Click 'Comprar' 

• A payment dialog box will appear.
• Once the purchase has been finalized, you will see a line with your purchase and a link that says 'utlilzar'. Click 'utilizar'.
• Enter the company's cedula number

• To access the document, look in the 'historial de usos' option from the main left column menu.

• Click the 'descargar' link to download the doc in PDF format. 

CONTENT RELATED TO UPDATING THE PERSONERIA JURIDICA CERTIFICATION IN COSTA RICA

• How to apply for a business name in Costa Rica. (See illustration / example of how to complete the RPI-03 form when applying for a business name in Costa Rica).