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Volume 16, Issue 102
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Friday, May 22, 2009
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New Senate Bill Promotes Agricultural Exports to Cuba, Removes Travel Ban
A bipartisan group of senators introduced May 20 legislation that includes a number of measures to promote and facilitate U.S. exports of agricultural goods to Cuba. The bill would also lift the current ban on U.S. citizens and legal residents traveling to Cuba and ease restrictions on exports of medicines and medical devices to Cuba.
“Cuba is one of our closest export markets,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and “it’s a fact that our current trade and travel sanctions aren’t working.” Baucus pointed to a recent International Trade Commission report finding that removing export restrictions could increase the annual U.S. share of Cuba’s agriculture imports to nearly 65% and boost U.S. agricultural sales by more than $450 million.
According to a press release from Baucus’ office, the new bill includes the following provisions.
• facilitates cash-in-advance agricultural sales to Cuba, which Congress authorized through the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act in 2000, by overturning a Treasury Department rule requiring payment before the goods are shipped from a U.S. port
• allows U.S. banks to receive payment directly from Cuban banks for authorized agricultural exports instead of requiring Cuban buyers to route payment through third-country banks
• requires the Department of Agriculture to promote U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba and offer technical assistance to U.S. entities interested in these transactions and funds these efforts with a $1 tax on all international air travel to and from Cuba for five years
• encourages the State Department to issue visas to Cuban trade officials and inspectors if they have a full itinerary of agriculture export-related activities
• eliminates the requirement for U.S. sellers of medicine to conduct onsite verification of the Cuban buyer’s receipt of the goods
• lifts all travel restrictions to Cuba by U.S. citizens and legal residents
• repeals Section 211 of the fiscal year 1999 Omnibus Appropriations Act, which bars U.S. courts from hearing claims by foreign nationals asserting rights to trademarks associated with expropriated property and prohibits the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office from renewing such trademark registrations (Section 211 has been found to violate World Trade Organization rules as well as the Inter-American Convention on Reciprocal Trademark Protections)
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