WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
WT/L/826 
18 November 2011  
 
(11-6004) 
General Council 
30 November 2011 Original:   Spanish 
 
 
 
CUBA - ARTICLE XV:6 OF THE GENERAL AGREEMENT 
ON TARIFFS AND TRADE 1994 
 
Report by the Government of Cuba under the 
Decision of 15 December 2006* 
   The following communication, dated 14 November 2011, is being circulated at the request of the delegation of Cuba. 
 
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  Pursuant to Article IX:4 of the Agreemen t Establishing the World Trade Organization 
(WTO), the Government of the Repu blic of Cuba hereby presents its fi fth annual report relating to the 
renewal granted on 15 December 2006 of the waiver extension approved on 20 December 2001.  This 
waiver was granted to Cuba under the Decisi on of 14 October 1996 (WT/L/182), in relation to 
Article XV:6 of the General Agreemen t on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT 1994). 
  Cuba reiterates that the circumstances that  justified the waiver granted in 2006 have 
essentially remained unchanged.  In particular, the economic, commercial a nd financial blockade 
imposed on our country by the United States of America continues to be strictly enforced.  The legal 
basis for this policy remains intact and the politi cal, administrative and repressive mechanisms for 
ensuring efficient enforcement have been strengt hened, especially the persecution and harassment 
connected with Cuban commercial a nd financial operations throughout th e world.  Added to this are 
the adverse effects of the global economic and fina ncial crisis as well as meteorological phenomena 
that have cost the country more than ten billion p esos over the past five years, all of which make it 
impossible for Cuba to sign a special exchange agreement with the Members of the World Trade 
Organization (WTO).   The rigid and hostile blockade that has been  imposed on Cuba for more than 50 years 
continues to be the main impe diment to the country's economic  development by hampering the 
performance of all sectors of its domestic economy, by substantially increasing financial costs and 
impeding access to external financial flows, as we ll as by obstructing essential imports, such as food, 
medicines and fuel.  
 The blockade is a blatant violation of intern ational law and the principles of free trade and 
navigation enshrined in numerous in ternational legal instruments, including the WTO rules.  It runs 
counter to the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, and it constitutes an infringement of a sovereign State's ri ght to peace, development and security. 
 
                                                      
* WT/L/678. 
 WT/L/826 
Page 2  
 
   The blockade measures applied by the Gove rnment of the United States, in flagrant 
contradiction with the principle of free trade, include the following:  
 A ban on the use of the US dollar in extern al commercial and financial transactions by 
the Cuban Government and all of its entities,  thereby forcing the country to carry out 
such transactions in third currencies even  though the prices of its main export 
products are quoted on the world market in US  dollars.  As a result, Cuba has incurred 
substantial losses from the appreciation and de preciation of the dollar in relation to 
the currencies of its trading partners, as well as the instability suffered by its 
enterprises on account of the double exchange-rate risk; 
 
 persecution of and penalties for entrepreneurs and investors interested in trading with 
or investing in Cuba, thus hindering the nor mal development of all external economic 
activity and access to resources to finance development; 
 
 a ban on loans to Cuba by multilateral and regional financial organizations, thereby 
denying the country access to sources of long-term financing under favourable 
conditions and forcing it to resort to shor t-term loans with high interest rates and 
supplier financing on a much less flexible b asis than credit from financial institutions 
and official sources; 
 
 sanctions against shipping agencies that  transport cargo to and from Cuba, thus 
limiting freedom of transit; 
 
 ban on trade with Cuba by subsidiaries of US companies located in third countries; 
 
 penalties for US citizens travelling to Cuba , thereby preventing the development of 
tourism between the two countries. 
 
The economic, commercial and financial siege kept  in place by all of the US administrations 
since 1961 imposes extraterritorial restrictions on Cuba which also affect other WTO Members. 
 
 A distinctive feature of the blockade po licy has been the renewed crusade against 
Cuban financial transactions abroad, including  those conducted between  Cuba and multilateral 
cooperation agencies.  For example, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the 
US Department of the Treasury has penalized a nd imposed millions of dollars' worth of fines on 
US and foreign banking institutions for dealing with Cuba, with the result that ties have been broken 
and/or Cuban transactions have had to be c onducted in more difficult and onerous conditions. 
 
Similar sanctions were imposed on a group of companies involved in commercial transactions 
with Cuba.  The persecution and harassment of i ndividuals and companies in third countries has 
reached alarming proportions, confirming the ex traterritorial nature of the blockade. 
 
 The body of regulations and administrative measures that form the legal basis for these actions against Cuba remain intact.  The main ones are:  
 Trading With the Enemy Act (TWEA):  orig inally enacted as a wartime measure in 
1917 to restrict trade with nations that were  considered hostile, it was on this law that 
the first regulations of the 1962 bl ockade against Cuba were based.  
On 13 September 2011, President Barack Obama announced that this Act would again be extended, meaning in practice that th e blockade against C uba would continue. 
  WT/L/826 
 Page 3 
 
 
   The Foreign Assistance Act, enacted by the United States Congress in 
September 1961, authorizing the President of the United States to establish and 
maintain "a total embargo on trade between  the United States and Cuba".  It also 
prohibits the granting of any aid to the Government of Cuba. 
 
 The Export Administration Act (EAA), adopted in 1979, which provides authority to 
the President to control, in general, expor ts and re-exports of goods and technology, 
in particular those that are considered detrimental to the national security of the 
United States. 
 
 The Cuban Democracy Act (CDA), better known as the "Torricelli Act", signed by 
President Bush Senior in October 1992, re inforcing the economic blockade measures 
against Cuba and providing a legal basis for the extraterritoriality of the blockade.  
Among other restrictions it prohibits subsidiaries of US companies in third countries from doing business with Cuba or Cuban na tionals, and prohibits  the entry into 
United States territory for a period of 180 days of ships from third countries that have 
touched port in Cuba. 
 
 The Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (Libertad) Act, commonly known as 
the "Helms-Burton Act", approved by Preside nt Clinton in March 1996.  Its essential 
aim is to impede and discourage foreign investment and to internationalize the 
blockade against Cuba.  It codifies the provisions of the blockade, limiting the 
President's prerogatives to suspend the polic y and broadening its extraterritorial 
scope.  It denies entry into the United States of directors of foreign companies (and their family members) that invest in  "confiscated" property in Cuba and provides 
for the possibility of filing legal action against them in the courts of the United States. 
 
 The Export Administration Regulations (EAR), which regulate the exceptions to the 
Export Administration Act or those that are authorized under licences issued by the 
Bureau of Industry and Security of the De partment of Commerce.  They come under 
the Trading With the Enemy Act and the Export Administration Act. 
 
It is clear from the range of the above legisla tion and regulations that never has a blockade 
been so comprehensive and brutal as the one th at the United States maintains against Cuba. 
  The damage done to the Cuban economy by these measures amounted to 104 billion dollars at 
current prices by the end of December 2010.  If we cal culate on the basis of retail price inflation in the 
United States
1, the amount shoots up to more than 247 b illion dollars, and excee ds 975 billion dollars 
if we take account of the depreciation of the dolla r against gold in the international financial market. 
  In spite of these considerations, the Cuban ec onomy continued to recover, and grew at an 
average annual rate of 3.7 per cent during the period from 2006 to 2010.  This period saw the 
key macroeconomic indicators develop favourably , and considerable progress was made in the 
monetary, financial and fiscal areas, where the country had to make a colossal effort in order to retain 
what it had achieved.  
                                                      
1 Calculation by the US Bureau of Labour Statis tics (http://www.bls.gov/) using the United States 
Department of Labour's CPI Calculator. WT/L/826 
Page 4  
 
   During this period, the services sector was the driving force of the Cuban economy, basically 
underpinned by the growth of tourism, telecomm unications, and high value-added services, of which 
health and education showed the greatest increases.  This reflects the country's cumulative level of 
investment in the development of its human ca pital.  Moreover, Cuba developed numerous 
programmes to improve its social services and rais e the quality of life of its population, achieving 
significant progress in the areas of education, health and culture. 
  Tourism has continued to grow over the past five years, with a total of 2.5 million visitors at 
the close of 2010, 14 per cent higher than in 2006.  
 Further progress was made in implementing the telecommunications modernization 
programme, particularly in the domestic telephon y area, where development has been unprecedented 
in Cuba's history.  By the end of 2010, the num ber of installed lines in the country exceeded the 
2006 figure by 16.7 per cent, and the rate of  digitization rose from 92.2 per cent in 2006 to 
98.7 per cent in 2010. 
 
 Worthy of special mention in the goods prod uction sector for their contribution to economic 
expansion are the non-sugar industr y and mining, where increases in  the production of domestic crude 
oil, natural gas and nickel constitute an historic record.  The country's construction sector has also 
significantly expanded.  
 Unemployment fell from 1.9 per cent in 2006 to 1.6 per cent in 2010 - the lowest rate 
recorded in the region.  At the end of 2010, the country began a process of restructuring employment 
to reduce the number of State employees.  This should ensure rational use of the workforce and 
should strengthen the role of wages and their relationship to performance. 
 
 The infant mortality rate was 4.5 per thousand live  births in 2010, the lowest in the history of 
the country.  Taken together with the life expectancy of  78 years, this is an indication of the quality of 
life of the Cuban population.   The State budget has addressed the country's mo st urgent needs within the limits of the 
income generated by the economy.  Thus, 2010 ended with a deficit of 3.8 per cent of GDP, 
lower than in 2008 and in 2009.  Work was also c onducted in several areas with a view to improving 
the tax system, focusing in particular on rede fining tax policy in response to the increase in 
self-employment as a result of the restructuring of public-sector employment.   With the growth of the economy, there was an  increase in monetary liquidity coupled with 
increased confidence in Cuba's financial institutions. 
 
In the light of the current circumstances surrounding the Cuban economy, the exceptional 
nature of its economic relations with the rest of  the world and the problems it faces on the domestic 
front, in 2011 the Cuban parliament approved a seri es of measures aimed at upgrading and fine-tuning 
the current economic model.  These measures should be implemented between 2011 and 2015;  
nonetheless, some of them have already been in troduced and others are in the process of being 
implemented.   On 14 March 2011, under Agreement No. 30,  the Monetary Policy Committee of the 
Central Bank of Cuba fixed the official exchange rate with the convertible peso on a par with the 
US dollar throughout the national territory, both fo r exchange transactions in the business sector and 
for individuals through the money exchange offices (CADECA).  This decision represents a realistic 
effort to improve the country's foreign currency balance.   WT/L/826 
 Page 5 
 
 
   The ten per cent surcharge on the exchange of US  dollars in cash for convertible pesos within 
the territory of Cuba, introduced through Resoluti on No. 80/2004, has been maintained.  The measure 
was taken to offset the costs and risks to the na tional economy associated with the manipulation of 
US dollars following the new wave of US government measures introduced that year.  
 It should be stressed that neither the changes introduced in the exchange and financial area, 
nor those that are planned, have affected or will in any way affect relations with the other WTO Members, since they are consistent with the principles of free trade between nations.  The interests of foreign investors in Cuba have not  suffered, nor will they be adversely affected. 
 
 Cuba has shown that it has fulfilled its commi tment to make use of the waiver without 
affecting the objectives of the General Agreement or impairing the rights of other WTO Members. 
  In view of the foregoing, Cuba takes this oppor tunity to announce that it will request renewal 
of the waiver extension granted in December 2006 for a period of five years, at the next Council for 
Trade in Goods. 
 
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