The CNDR toughens sanctions against sports organizations receiving public funds from ICODER

The National Council of Sport and Recreation (CNDR) reformed the regulation governing the allocation, disbursement, and accountability of the patrimonial benefits that the Costa Rican Institute of Sport and Recreation (ICODER) transfers to private entities, and incorporated new grounds for the total refund of funds and loss of eligibility. The decision is contained in agreement No. 08 of ordinary session No. 28-2026 of July 30, 2026, and was published in La Gaceta No. 197 on Monday, October 19, 2026. The regulation applies to sports federations and associations that receive state transfers to execute their programs.

The reformed text is the Regulation for the Allocation, Disbursement or Transfer, and Accountability of Free or Non-Reciprocal Patrimonial Benefits Granted to Private Entities Consigned in the ICODER Budget, originally approved by the CNDR through agreement No. 04 of ordinary session No. 01-2026 of January 8, 2026. The reform was signed by the national director of ICODER, Donald Rojas Fernández, and is effective as of its publication in the official gazette.

The framework invoked by the Council includes resolution No. R-DC-00122-2019 of the Comptroller General of the Republic, published in Supplement No. 283 to La Gaceta No. 242 of December 19, 2019, and reformed by resolutions RDC-083-2020 and R-DC-0111-2023, as well as Law No. 7800, the General Public Procurement Law No. 9986, the General Internal Control Law No. 8292, and the National Policy for Sport, Recreation, and Physical Activity 2020-2030 (PONADRAF), approved through Agreement No. 2 of ordinary session No. 1120-2020 of March 5, 2020. In its recitals, the CNDR justified the changes based on the need to “improve the control of resources and guarantee the respect of the rights of the federations.”

Total Refund: Recidivism and Falsified Documentation

The new article 28 of the regulation establishes that the refund of the totality of the granted patrimonial benefit shall proceed in two scenarios:

• Recidivism: when the Accountability Unit (URE) has formally pointed out a failure to comply with the mandatory principles for the acquisition of goods and services, or with public procurement procedures according to the General Public Procurement Law, and the private entity incurs the same failure or another of a similar nature again.
• Falsified Documentation: when the submission of falsified, incomplete, or misleading documentation is verified, which allows an undue benefit to members of the board of directors or persons with a relationship of consanguinity or affinity up to the third degree.

The same regulation maintains the figure of the reduction of the equity benefit: the amount corresponding to an incorrect or non-compliant execution will be deducted from the budget allocation of the following period.

Loss of suitability for execution lower than 50%

The regulation incorporates four causes for losing the suitability qualification, an indispensable requirement to apply for resources:

• Being recategorized to a lower category from the “Development” category as a result of the performance evaluation.
• Registering a budget execution equal to or lower than fifty percent (50%) of the total amount of the approved equity benefit.
• Failing to meet fifty percent (50%) of the sporting goals established in the agreement signed with ICODER as the granting entity.
• Failing to comply with the deadlines and procedures of the regulation, affecting the execution, monitoring, or accountability of the granted benefit.

Stricter deadlines to apply and justify expenses

The reform also adjusts the calendar and controls of the transfer cycle:

• The application must be submitted digitally, through the ICODER technological platform, no later than the last business day of the second week of June.
• The competent authority has a maximum of thirty calendar days to verify the applications; serious non-compliances have ten business days to be corrected as a one-time occurrence, and whoever does not correct them is excluded from the analysis of resources for the following year.
• The requirements for the transfer must be presented within a maximum period of one calendar month after the accountability report; whoever requests the transfer after the last business day of June loses the total approved budget for the current period.
• Up to three budget variations per period are allowed, with fifteen business days’ notice when the variation eliminates or modifies a program.
• Private entities have fifteen business days to upload the sworn statements of acquisition to the SITADERE platform and to present the partial progress reports.
• The reimbursement of non-approved remnants must be made within a maximum of ten business days, and ICODER has sixty calendar days to issue the final liquidation ruling.

The regulation further clarifies that, while the review of the accountability report is being processed and the final ruling has not been notified, the private entity may continue receiving the approved resources, and that the Legal Advisory Unit may not incorporate clauses or requirements into the agreements that exceed the regulatory framework.

The impact is direct for the national sporting movement: federations and associations that depend on transfers from ICODER are exposed to losing the entirety of the disbursement or their eligibility for the following year if they execute less than half of the budget or the agreed-upon goals, meaning that compliance ceases to be an evaluation criterion and becomes a condition for remaining in the state financing system.

Source: La Gaceta, No. 197, Monday, October 19, 2026, Regulations Section, pp. 66-69 (official reference: IN202601133408).