Costa Rica interview recording laws: Penal Code Article 198, Law 8968 consent and PRODHAB

Recording a job interview with a candidate in Costa Rica requires the candidate's consent. Article 198 of the Penal Code punishes with one to three years in prison anyone who records "without their consent" the words of another "not intended for the public," and Law 8968 on personal data requires express, informed consent "in writing, whether in a physical or electronic document," before personal data are collected. The regulator is the Agency for the Protection of Inhabitants' Data (PRODHAB). This is the position as of November 2026.

This page adds Costa Rica to our country series alongside Colombia, Mexico and Argentina. It is for US recruiters, nearshore staffing teams and hiring managers who interview candidates located in Costa Rica by video or phone. Quotations from Costa Rican sources are our translations from Spanish.

Costa Rica's rules at a glance

Is it a crime to record a job interview in Costa Rica?

It can be, if the candidate has not agreed. Article 24 of the Constitution guarantees "the right to privacy, to liberty and to the secrecy of communications" and says that "the private documents and the written, oral or any other type of communications of the inhabitants of the Republic are inviolable." Courts may order interception only in the cases a special law sets out.

The Penal Code turns that protection into an offense. Article 198, headed "improper capture of verbal statements" and given its current wording by Law 7425 of 1994, punishes with one to three years in prison "anyone who records, without their consent, the words of another or others, not intended for the public, or who, by technical procedures, listens to private statements not addressed to them." The second half is aimed at eavesdroppers. The first half is not: on its wording, it covers recording a private conversation you take part in if the other person has not consented. A job interview is not a conversation intended for the public, so treat the candidate's consent as a legal requirement, not a courtesy.

Article 196 adds an offense, also carrying one to three years, for anyone who without authorization intercepts or accesses "communications addressed to another person." That is the rule a colleague or an unannounced note-taking bot listening in would have to worry about.

What does Law 8968 require before you record?

A recording or transcript is personal data under Law 8968, the Law on the Protection of the Person against the Processing of their Personal Data, and the law makes consent the general rule:

• Information first (Article 5(1)). Before collecting, tell the person "expressly, precisely and unequivocally" that a database exists, its purposes, who will receive or consult the data, whether answering is mandatory or optional, how the data will be processed, the consequences of refusing, their rights, and the identity and address of whoever is responsible for the database.
• Written consent (Article 5(2)). Consent must be express and "must be recorded in writing, whether in a physical or electronic document," and can be revoked the same way. The only exceptions are a court order, data from unrestricted public sources, and data that must be supplied by law. Hiring is not one of them, and the article ends: "The collection of data without the informed consent of the person ... is prohibited."
• Provable consent (Regulation, Articles 4 to 7). The regulation requires consent to be free, specific, informed, unequivocal and individual, given in a way that "can be demonstrated beyond doubt" and consulted later. The burden of proof falls "in all cases" on the organization, and the candidate can revoke consent at any time through a quick, simple and free mechanism.
• Sensitive data (Article 9). "No person shall be obliged to provide sensitive data," which include health, religious beliefs, political opinions and sexual orientation. Keep interviews away from these topics.

One scope point matters for employers. Article 2 of the law and Article 3 of the regulation exclude databases kept "for exclusively internal, personal or domestic purposes," provided they are not commercialized in any way. Whether a company's own candidate files fall within that exclusion is a question for a Costa Rican lawyer; an agency that sends candidate profiles to paying clients should not assume it does. Articles 24 and 198 protect the candidate's words either way.

What does PRODHAB say?

We found no PRODHAB guidance specifically on recorded job interviews. Its frequently asked questions answer three points that apply. Consent is "every express, free, unequivocal, informed and specific expression of will given in writing or by digital means for a determined purpose." A transfer "will always require the unequivocal consent of the data subject," but "moving personal data from the controller of a database to a processor, service provider or technology intermediary, or to companies of the same economic group, is not considered a transfer." And under the regulation, data that may affect a person should not be kept longer than ten years from the end of the purpose, unless a special rule says otherwise.

Can candidates get the recording, and how fast must you answer?

Yes. Article 7 of Law 8968 guarantees access, correction and deletion, which the organization must handle "free of charge" and resolve "within five business days" of receiving the request. The information must be complete, clear and "free of codes," may be given in writing by physical or electronic means, and may not reveal data belonging to third parties. Five business days is far shorter than the GDPR's month, so have recordings and transcripts findable by candidate name. Our candidate data access requests guide has a workflow.

How long can you keep interview recordings?

Article 6 requires the organization to delete data "that have ceased to be pertinent or necessary" for the purpose for which they were collected, and adds that data that may affect a person may in no case be kept more than ten years after the events recorded. Ten years is a ceiling, not a target. Set a short period tied to the hiring decision, keep written notes longer than audio if you need a record, and ask separately before keeping anyone in a talent pool. Our retention policy template gives the structure.

What if you interview from the US or send the recording abroad?

Law 8968 has no list of approved countries. Instead, Article 14 says data may be transferred only when the person "has expressly and validly authorized" it. Following PRODHAB's reading, sending a recording to a client employer is a transfer that needs the candidate's authorization, while a transcription vendor acting for you is a processor, which is not a transfer. Name the client in your consent request; see can recruiters share interview recordings with clients. The regulation applies to data "insofar as they have effects within national territory," which an interview with a candidate in Costa Rica has. Your own state's law governs your side of the call; see two-party consent states.

Can you use AI note takers for interviews in Costa Rica?

Yes, if the candidate's consent covers the tool. A transcript is a recording of the candidate's words in another form, so Article 198 and the consent rules apply to it. Name the tool's role in your consent text, put a contract in place with the vendor, and ask whether it keeps audio and whether it trains models on your interviews: Article 6 says data collected for a purpose may not be processed in a way incompatible with it, so vendor training is a separate purpose the candidate would have to be told about. A bot that joins a call without being announced is the riskiest setup. Interview Signal, for example, captures audio from the interviewer's own computer with no bot joining the call, shows a read-aloud consent line with a one-click pause, and sends audio to a speech-to-text provider in short chunks that are not retained; the transcript stays on the interviewer's computer and is still personal data under Law 8968. For general vendor questions, see is it legal to use AI note takers in interviews.

A consent line for interviews in Costa Rica

"Antes de empezar: en [Empresa], con domicilio en [dirección],
quisiéramos grabar y transcribir esta entrevista para tener un registro
exacto de sus respuestas y evaluar su candidatura. La usaremos solo para
este proceso de selección [y la compartiremos con (cliente)]; la
herramienta de transcripción procesa los datos en [país]. La
eliminaremos [plazo] después de la decisión. Puede pedir acceso,
rectificación o eliminación, o retirar su consentimiento, escribiendo a
[correo]. ¿Nos da su consentimiento para grabar? Puede decir que no o
pedirme que pare en cualquier momento; no afectará su candidatura."

("Before we start: [Company], of [address], would like to record and
transcribe this interview to keep an accurate record of your answers
and assess your application. We'll use it only for this selection
process [and share it with (client)]; the transcription tool processes
the data in [country]. We'll delete it [period] after the decision. You
can ask for access, correction or deletion, or withdraw your consent, by
writing to [email]. Do you consent to the recording? You can say no or
ask me to stop at any time; it won't affect your application.")

Send the same text in the invitation and keep the candidate's written or emailed reply, which meets Law 8968's requirement that consent be recorded in a physical or electronic document; the spoken yes at the start of the recording is extra proof. More wording is in the interview recording consent script.

Checklist before you record interviews in Costa Rica

• Consent obtained before recording or live transcription starts, in writing or electronically, and kept.
• Article 5(1) information given first: database, purposes, recipients, rights, your identity and address.
• Client sharing named in the consent request; no recording sent to anyone the candidate was not told about.
• Processor contract with any transcription or AI vendor; no vendor training on your interviews without telling the candidate.
• Sensitive topics kept out of interviews and notes.
• Requests answered within five business days; a short retention period set and followed.
• Whether the internal-database exclusion applies to you confirmed with a Costa Rican lawyer.

Also hiring in Latin America? See Chile, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico.