Sunday, September 13, 2009
The Obama administration has taken yet another step towards improving trade between the United States and Cuba. New rules crafted by the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security will allow Cuban-Americans to send packages to relatives in Cuba that have a retail value of $800 (up from $400) and include consumer electronics.
No export license will be required under the rules governing gift packages that include mobile phones, personal digital assistants, laptop and desktop computers, data storage devices, disk drives, flash drives, writable compact disks and floppy disks. Americans also will be able to send software and hardware that allows Cubans to access satellite-based television and radio communications.
President Barack Obama has said the lifting of restrictions on personal trade with Cuba fits with the U.S. policy of promoting democracy and human rights on the Communist island by decreasing “the dependency of the Cuban people on the Castro regime.”
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Obama Eases Embargo on Gizmos to Cuba (by Travis Sanford, Courthouse News Service)
Cuba: Revisions to Gift Parcel and Baggage Restrictions, Creation of License Exception for Donated Consumer Communications Devices and Expansion of Licensing Policy Regarding Telecommunications (Bureau of Industry and Security, Department of Commerce)
Cuba Lifts Ban on Com[puter and DVD Player Sales (by Marc Frank, Reuters)
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