Discussions towards a free trade agreement began in January 1991, when the presidents of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Mexico signed the Declaration of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, which provided a framework for trade relations between Central American countries and Mexico.

In February of 1991, Costa Rica and Mexico began preliminary meetings to exchange information and to discuss means of deepening and facilitating trade. Negotiations with Costa Rica began in April 1993. The scope of negotiations widened from a focus on goods to include other areas such as services, investment, intellectual property, and government procurement. The agreement was signed on 5 April 1994 in Mexico City, Mexico.

Documents relating to the negotiations
11 January 1991	Declaration of Tuxtla Gutiérrez
11 January 1991	Act of the Heads of State of the Republics of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the United Mexican States
11 January 1991	Agreement of Tuxtla Gutierrez between the presidents of Central America and Mexico
Source: Secretaría de Integración Económica Centroamericana (SIECA)

The Mexico-Costa Rica free trade agreement entered into force on 01 January 1995.

Documents relating to the entry into force
27 April 2005	Costa Rica and Mexico celebrate ten years of entry into force of their FTA
Source: Ministerio de Comercio Exterior de Costa Rica (COMEX)

Article 16-01 of the Agreement establishes an Administrative Commission to oversee the implementation and operation of the Agreement.

Decisions of the Administrative Committee
09 March 2009	Decision Nº22. Modification to Section B of the Annex to Article 5-03 of the Free Trade Agreement between Mexico and Costa Rica
27 May 2008	Decision Nº 21. Uniform Regulations
27 May 2008	Decision Nº 20. List of arbiters provided for in Article 1708 of Chapter XVII
27 May 2008	Decision Nº 19. Approval of the Rules of Operation of Annex to Article 3-15
30 May 2005	Decision Nº 18. Modifications to the annex to Article 5-03 and its appendix and to Annex 1 to Article 5-15 with the modifications to the Harmonized System 2002 version Costa Rica - Decree 32382 Mexico - Agreement Adopting Decision Nº 10
27 September 2004	Decision Nº 17. Application of Categories C2 and E2 of the Tariff Liberalization Programme
12 September 2002	Decision Nº 16. List of arbitrators set out in paragraph 1 (List of Arbitrators) of Article 17-08 of Chapter XVII, Dispute Settlement
12 September 2002	Decision Nº 15. Bilateral register pertaining to Section C (Transfer of Persons within a Company) of the Annex to Article 10-04 (Temporary Entry of Business Persons) established in Chapter 10
12 September 2002	Decision Nº 14. Bilateral register pertaining to Section C (Transfer of Persons within a Company) of the Annex to Article 10-04 (Temporary Entry of Business Persons) established in Chapter 10
12 September 2002	Decision Nº 13. List of arbitrators set out in paragraph 4 of Article 13-26of Chapter XIII, Investment
27 July 2000	Decision Nº 12. Costa Rica and Mexico's lists of nonconforming measures (Annex I), economic activities reserved by each Party (Annex II), Annex of exceptions to MFN treatment (Annex III), quantitative restrictions (Annex IV) established in Chapter 9, Trade in Services, and in Chapter 13, Investment
25 July 2000	Decision Nº 11. Creation of the Administrative Subcommission
15 January 1999	Decision Nº 10. Decision regarding the Annex to Article 5-21
	Costa Rica - Decree 27858 Mexico - Agreement Adopting Decision Nº 10
15 January 1999	Decision Nº 9. Approval of the Rules of Operation of the Committee on Regional Integration of Inputs (CIRI). Enters into force 15 March 1999
	Costa Rica - Decree 27859 Mexico - Agreement Adopting Decision Nº 9
9 June 1998	Decision Nº. 8. Modifications to the annex to article 5-03 and its appendix, to annex 1 of article1996 version of the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System. Enters into force: 1 April 1999
	Costa Rica - Decree 27860 and fe de erratas Mexico - Agreement adopting Decision Nº 8
20 March 1998	Decision Nº. 7. Establishment of a Secretariat for the Agreement
10 May 1996	Decision Nº. 6. Creation of a Committee on Government Procurement
10 May 1996	Decision Nº. 5. Creation of a Committee on Services and Investment
10 May 1996	Decision Nº. 4. Model Rules of Procedure for Chapter XVII
10 May 1996	Decision Nº. 3. Code of Conduct for the Dispute Settlement Procedures set out in Chapter XVIII
10 May 1996	Decision Nº. 2. Creation of the Committee on Goods
10 May 1996	Decision Nº.1. Modification of the instructions for filling out the rules of origin certificate
Source: Ministerio de Comercio Exterior de Costa Rica (COMEX); Secretaría de Economía de México

On 15 January 1999 the parties signed an Agreement on the tariff acceleration for certain goods originating in each country to take effect 1 June 1999. This was passed in Costa Rica through decree 27931 H on 15 January 1999 and published in the official Gazette on 16 June 1999.

Documents relating to tariff acceleration
15 January 1999	Costa Rica decree 27931 H
15 January 1999	Agreement on the tariff acceleration for certain goods originating in each country
Source: Ministerio de Comercio Exterior de Costa Rica (COMEX)

• Ministerio de Comercio Exterior de Costa Rica (COMEX)
• Secretaría de Economía de México
• Secretaría de Integración Económica Centroamericana (SIECA)