I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1737 

To facilitate the sale of United States agricultural products to Cuba, as 

authorized by the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement 

Act of 2000. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 26, 2009 

Mr. MORAN of Kansas (for himself, Mr. DELAHUNT, Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland, Mrs. EMERSON, Mr. BERRY, Mr. DAVIS of Tennessee, Mr. 

BOUSTANY, Mr. PAUL, Mr. CONAWAY, Mr. ROSS, Mr. FLAKE, Mr. 

THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. SNYDER, Mr. BROWN of 

South Carolina, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. NEUGEBAUER, and Mr. WALZ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 

Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, Financial 

Services, and Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by 

the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To facilitate the sale of United States agricultural products 

to Cuba, as authorized by the Trade Sanctions Reform 

and Export Enhancement Act of 2000. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Agricultural Export 

5 Facilitation Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find3 ings: 

4 (1) The export sector of United States agri5 culture makes an important positive contribution to 

6 this country’s trade balance. 

7 (2) According to the United States Department 

8 of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service, the 

9 total value of United States exports of agricultural 

10 products shipped to Cuba since 2000 when such 

11 sales were first authorized by Congress is approxi12 mately $2,511,600,000, excluding transportation, 

13 port fees, and insurance costs beyond the port of ex14 portation. During the 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 

15 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 calendar years Cuba 

16 purchased from United States exporters approxi17 mately $4,600,000; $139,800,000; $247,600,000; 

18 $383,900,000; $346,000,000; $320,800,000; 

19 $431,200,000; and $691,103,000 in food and agri20 cultural products, respectively. Cuba is therefore an 

21 important source of revenue for United States agri22 culture and its affiliated industries, such as manu23 facturers and distributors of value-added food prod24 ucts. 

25 (3) To be competitive in sales to Cuban pur26 chasers, United States exporters of agricultural 


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1 products and their representatives, including rep2 resentatives of United States air or sea carriers, 

3 ports, and shippers, must have ready and reliable 

4 physical access to Cuba. Such access is currently un5 certain because, under existing regulations, United 

6 States exporters and their representatives must 

7 apply for and receive special Department of the 

8 Treasury licenses to travel to Cuba to engage in 

9 sales-related activities. The issuance of such licenses 

10 is subject to both administrative delays and periodic 

11 denials. A blanket statutory authorization for sales 

12 and transport-related travel to Cuba by United 

13 States exporters will remove the current bureau14 cratic impediment to agricultural product sales en15 dorsed by Congress when it passed the Trade Sanc16 tions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000. 

17 (4) On many occasions visas to enter the 

18 United States have been delayed and often denied to 

19 prospective Cuban purchasers of products authorized 

20 under the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export En21 hancement Act of 2000. The result has been that 

22 family farmers and other small producers and dis23 tributors of agricultural products who lack the re24 sources to fund sales delegations to Cuba have been 

25 denied access to potential purchasers in that counVerDate Nov 24 2008 20:57 Mar 30, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1737.IH H1737

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1 try. A simple solution is to issue visas to Cuban na2 tionals who demonstrate an itinerary of meetings 

3 with prospective United States exporters of products 

4 authorized under the Trade Sanctions Reform and 

5 Export Enhancement Act of 2000. In addition, visas 

6 should be issued to Cuban phytosanitary inspectors 

7 who require entry into the United States to conduct 

8 on-premise inspections of production and processing 

9 facilities and the products of potential United States 

10 exporters. 

11 (5) The Trade Sanctions Reform and Export 

12 Enhancement Act of 2000 requires ‘‘payment of 

13 cash in advance’’ for United States agricultural ex14 ports to Cuba. Some Federal agencies responsible 

15 for the implementation of the Trade Sanctions Re16 form and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 have ex17 pressed the view that ‘‘cash in advance’’ requires 

18 that payment be received by a United States ex19 porter in advance of shipment of goods to Cuba. In20 deed, in late 2004 payments due United States ex21 porters from purchasers in Cuba were frozen in 

22 United States banks while the terms of those pay23 ments were reviewed unnecessarily. This action by 

24 the Department of the Treasury has created a cli25 mate of commercial uncertainty that has inhibited 


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1 agricultural sales to Cuba under the Trade Sanc2 tions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000. 

3 (6) There is nothing in either the Trade Sanc4 tions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 

5 itself or its legislative history to support the view 

6 that Congress intended payment to be made in ad7 vance of the shipment of goods from the United 

8 States to Cuba. It was and is the intent of Congress 

9 that a seller of a product authorized under the 

10 Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement 

11 Act of 2000 receive payment only before a Cuban 

12 purchaser takes physical possession of that product. 

13 (7) At present it is the policy of the United 

14 States Government to prohibit direct payment be15 tween Cuban and United States financial institu16 tions. As a result, Cuban purchasers of products au17 thorized under the Trade Sanctions Reform and Ex18 port Enhancement Act of 2000 must route their 

19 payments through third country banks that charge 

20 a fee for this service. Allowing direct payments be21 tween Cuban and United States financial institu22 tions will permit the United States exporters to re23 ceive payment directly to their financial institutions 

24 within hours instead of days and will eliminate an 

25 unnecessary transactional fee, thereby allowing 


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1 Cuban purchasers to purchase more United States 

2 origin agricultural products. 

3 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to restate 

4 the intent of Congress with respect to the Trade Sanctions 

5 Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000, to remove 

6 impediments to present and future sales of United States 

7 agricultural products to Cuba under such Act, and to oth8 erwise facilitate such sales. 

9 SEC. 3. TRAVEL TO CUBA IN CONNECTION WITH AUTHOR10 IZED SALES ACTIVITIES UNDER THE TRADE 

11 SANCTIONS REFORM AND EXPORT ENHANCE12 MENT ACT OF 2000. 

13 Section 910 of the Trade Sanctions Reform and Ex14 port Enhancement Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7209) is 

15 amended by striking subsection (a) and inserting the fol16 lowing: 

17 ‘‘(a) AUTHORIZATION OF TRAVEL RELATING TO

18 COMMERCIAL SALE OF AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES, 

19 MEDICINE, AND MEDICAL DEVICES.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the 

21 Treasury shall promulgate regulations under which, 

22 at a minimum, the travel-related transactions de23 scribed in paragraph (2) may be authorized by spe24 cific license or general license for travel to, from, or 

25 within Cuba in connection with— 


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1 ‘‘(A) commercial export sales and transpor2 tation of agricultural commodities, medicine, 

3 and medical devices pursuant to this Act; and 

4 ‘‘(B) sales and marketing activities of agri5 cultural commodities, medicine, and medical de6 vices pursuant to this Act. 

7 ‘‘(2) AUTHORIZED TRAVEL-RELATED TRANS8 ACTIONS.—The travel-related transactions referred 

9 to in paragraph (1) are the following: 

10 ‘‘(A) All transportation-related trans11 actions ordinarily incident to travel to and from 

12 Cuba. 

13 ‘‘(B) All transactions ordinarily incident to 

14 travel anywhere within Cuba. 

15 ‘‘(C) The importation of Cuba-origin infor16 mation and information materials. 

17 ‘‘(D) Remittances to nationals of Cuba 

18 who are members of the remitter’s immediate 

19 family. 

20 ‘‘(E) All transactions incident to the proc21 essing and payment of checks, drafts, travelers’ 

22 checks, and similar instruments negotiated in 

23 Cuba by any person authorized pursuant to this 

24 Act to engage in financial transactions in Cuba. 


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1 ‘‘(3) SALES AND MARKETING ACTIVITIES DE2 FINED.— 

3 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In paragraph (1), the 

4 term ‘sales and marketing activities’— 

5 ‘‘(i) means any activity that is under6 taken by a United States person in order 

7 to explore the market in Cuba for the sale 

8 of agricultural commodities, medicine, and 

9 medical devices pursuant to this Act; and 

10 ‘‘(ii) includes exhibiting, negotiating, 

11 marketing, surveying the market, and de12 livering and servicing agricultural commod13 ities, medicine, and medical devices pursu14 ant to this Act. 

15 ‘‘(B) UNITED STATES PERSON DEFINED.— 

16 In subparagraph (A), the term ‘United States 

17 person’— 

18 ‘‘(i) means the Federal Government, 

19 any State or local government, or any pri20 vate person or entity of the United States; 

21 and 

22 ‘‘(ii) includes a full-time employee, ex23 ecutive, sales agent or consultant of a pro24 ducer, manufacturer, distributor, shipper, 

25 United States air or seaport, or a carrier 


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1 of agricultural commodities, medicine, and 

2 medical devices authorized for sale pursu3 ant to this Act, as well as an exhibitor, 

4 representative, or member of a national or 

5 State trade organization that promotes the 

6 interests of a producer, manufacturer, or 

7 distributor of such products.’’. 

8 SEC. 4. ISSUANCE OF VISAS TO CONDUCT ACTIVITIES IN 

9 ACCORDANCE WITH THE TRADE SANCTIONS 

10 REFORM AND EXPORT ENHANCEMENT ACT 

11 OF 2000. 

12 (a) ISSUANCE OF VISAS.—Notwithstanding any other 

13 provision of law, in the case of a Cuban national whose 

14 itinerary documents an intent to conduct activities, includ15 ing phytosanitary inspections, related to purchasing 

16 United States agricultural goods under the provisions of 

17 the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement 

18 Act of 2000, a consular officer (as defined in section 

19 101(a)(9) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 

20 U.S.C. 1101(a)(9))) may issue a nonimmigrant visa under 

21 section 101(a)(15)(B) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 

22 1101(a)(15)(B)) to the national, if the national is not in23 admissible to the United States under section 212 of such 

24 Act (8 U.S.C. 1182). 

25 (b) PERIODIC REPORTS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 45 days after 

2 the date of enactment of this Act and every 3 

3 months thereafter the Secretary of State shall sub4 mit to the Committees on Finance, Agriculture, Nu5 trition, and Forestry, and Foreign Relations of the 

6 Senate and the Committees on Agriculture, Ways 

7 and Means, and Foreign Affairs of the House of 

8 Representatives a report on the issuance of visas de9 scribed in subsection (a). 

10 (2) CONTENT OF REPORTS.—Each report shall 

11 contain a full description of each application received 

12 from a Cuban national to travel to the United States 

13 to engage in purchasing activities pursuant to the 

14 Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement 

15 Act of 2000 and shall describe the disposition of 

16 each such application. 

17 SEC. 5. CLARIFICATION OF PAYMENT TERMS UNDER THE 

18 TRADE SANCTIONS REFORM AND EXPORT EN19 HANCEMENT ACT OF 2000. 

20 Section 908(b)(4) of the Trade Sanctions Reform and 

21 Export Enhancement Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7207(b)(4)) 

22 is amended— 

23 (1) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

24 the end; 


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1 (2) in subparagraph (C), by striking the period 

2 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

3 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(D) the term ‘payment of cash in ad5 vance’ means, notwithstanding any other provi6 sion of law, the payment by the purchaser of an 

7 agricultural commodity or product and the re8 ceipt of such payment by the seller prior to— 

9 ‘‘(i) the transfer of title of such com10 modity or product to the purchaser; and 

11 ‘‘(ii) the release of control of such 

12 commodity or product to the purchaser.’’. 

13 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF DIRECT TRANSFERS BETWEEN 

14 CUBAN AND UNITED STATES FINANCIAL IN15 STITUTIONS UNDER THE TRADE SANCTIONS 

16 REFORM AND EXPORT ENHANCEMENT ACT 

17 OF 2000. 

18 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 

19 President may not restrict direct transfers from a Cuban 

20 financial institution to a United States financial institu21 tion executed in payment for a product authorized for sale 

22 under the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhance23 ment Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7201 et seq.). 

Æ 


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