I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 719 
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 
FEBRUARY 9, 2005 
Mr. MORAN of Kansas (for himself, Mr. OTTER, and Mr. FLAKE) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on International 
Relations, 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 with-
in 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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Agricultural Export 
Facilitation Act of 2005’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-
ings: 
(1) The export sector of United States agri-
culture makes an important positive contribution to 
this country’s trade balance. 
(2) The total value of United States exports of 
agricultural products shipped to Cuba since 2000 
when such sales were first authorized by Congress is 
approximately $1,000,000,000, including transpor-
tation, port fees, and insurance costs. In December 
2001, Cuba purchased approximately $4,300,000 in 
food and agricultural products. In 2002, Cuba pur-
chased approximately $138,600,000 in food and ag-
ricultural products. In 2003, Cuba purchased ap-
proximately $256,900,000 in food and agricultural 
products. In 2004, Cuba purchased approximately 
$380,000,000 in food and agricultural products. 
Cuba ranked at the bottom of 226 agricultural ex-
port markets for United States companies in 2001; 
ranked 50th of 226 in 2002; ranked 35th of 219 in 
2003; and ranked approximately 25th of 228 in 
2004. Cuba is therefore an important source of rev-
enue for United States agriculture and its affiliated 
industries, such as manufacturers and distributors 
of value-added food products.
(3) To be competitive in sales to Cuban pur-
chasers, United States exporters of agricultural 
products and their representatives, including rep-
resentatives of United States air or sea carriers, 
ports and shippers, must have ready and reliable 
physical access to Cuba. Such access is currently un-
certain because, under existing regulations, United 
States exporters and their representatives must 
apply for and receive special Treasury Department 
licenses to travel to Cuba to engage in sales-related 
activities. The issuance of such licenses is subject to 
both administrative delays and periodic denials. A 
blanket statutory authorization for sales and trans-
port-related travel to Cuba by United States export-
ers will remove the current bureaucratic impediment 
to agricultural product sales endorsed by Congress 
when it passed the Trade Sanctions Reform and Ex-
port Enhancement Act of 2000. 
(4) On many occasions United States visas have 
been delayed and often denied to prospective Cuban 
purchasers of products authorized under the Trade 
Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 
2000. The result has been that family farmers and 
other small producers and distributors of agricul-
tural products who lack the resources to fund sales
delegations to Cuba have been denied access to po-
tential purchasers in that country. A simple solution 
is for the Department of State to issue visas to 
Cuban nationals who demonstrate an itinerary of 
meetings with prospective United States exporters of 
products authorized under the Trade Sanctions Re-
form and Export Enhancement Act of 2000. In ad-
dition, 
visas 
should 
be 
issued 
to 
Cuban 
phytosanitary inspectors who require entry into the 
United States to conduct on-premise inspections of 
production and processing facilities and the products 
of potential United States exporters. 
(5) The Trade Sanctions Reform and Export 
Enhancement Act of 2000 requires ‘‘payment of 
cash in advance’’ for United States agricultural ex-
ports to Cuba. Some Federal agencies responsible 
for the implementation of the Trade Sanctions Re-
form and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 have ex-
pressed the view that ‘‘cash in advance’’ requires 
that payment be received by a United States ex-
porter in advance of shipment of goods to Cuba. In-
deed, late last year payments due United States ex-
porters from purchasers in Cuba were frozen in 
United States banks while the terms of those pay-
ments were reviewed unnecessarily. This action by
the Department of the Treasury has created a cli-
mate of commercial uncertainty that has inhibited 
agricultural sales under the Trade Sanctions Reform 
and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 to Cuba. 
(6) There is nothing in either the Trade Sanc-
tions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 
itself or its legislative history to support the view 
that Congress intended payment to be made in ad-
vance of the shipment of goods from this country to 
Cuba. It was and is the intent of Congress that a 
seller of a product authorized under the Trade Sanc-
tions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 
receive payment only before a Cuban purchaser 
takes physical possession of that product. 
(7) At present it is the policy of the United 
States Government to prohibit direct payment be-
tween Cuban and United States financial institu-
tions. As a result, Cuban purchasers of products au-
thorized under the Trade Sanctions Reform and Ex-
port Enhancement Act of 2000 must route their 
payments through third country banks that charge 
a fee for this service. Allowing direct payments be-
tween Cuban and United States financial institu-
tions will permit the United States exporters to re-
ceive payment directly to their financial institutions
within hours instead of days and will eliminate an 
unnecessary transactional fee, thereby allowing 
Cuban purchasers to purchase more United States 
origin agricultural products. 
(8) Trademarks and trade names are vital as-
sets of the United States companies that export 
branded food products, including those who today or 
in the future may sell such products to Cuba under 
the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhance-
ment Act of 2000. Hundreds of United States com-
panies have registered their trademarks in Cuba in 
order to ensure the exclusive right to use those 
trademarks when the United States trade embargo 
on that country is lifted. Moreover, following the en-
actment of the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export 
Enhancement Act of 2000, many United States 
companies are today exporting branded food prod-
ucts to Cuba where they hope to establish their 
brands with Cuban purchasers in order to benefit 
from current sales under the Trade Sanctions Re-
form and Export Enhancement Act of 2000, as well 
as position themselves for the larger post-embargo 
market for United States goods in Cuba. 
(9) Sales to Cuba of branded products of 
United States companies contribute to the liveli-
hoods of American workers and the balance sheets 
of United States businesses. Those sales depend on 
the security of United States trademarks and trade 
names protected in Cuba by reciprocal treaties and 
agreements for the protection of intellectual prop-
erty. Among such treaties and agreements are the 
Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual 
Property Rights (TRIPS) and the Inter-American 
Convention for Trademark and Commercial Protec-
tion. 
(10) The United States District Court for the 
Southern District of New York ruled that section 
211 of the Department of Commerce and Related 
Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999 abrogates, with 
respect to Cuba, the Inter-American Convention on 
Trademarks and Commercial Protection. The court’s 
ruling was affirmed by the United States Court of 
Appeals for the Second Circuit. 
(11) Cuba’s international remedy under cus-
tomary international law (as codified by Article 60 
of the 1969 Vienna Convention on Treaties), for a 
breach by the United States of the Inter-American 
Convention, is to suspend or revoke the protections 
Cuba currently affords United States trademarks 
and trade names.