Cuba cracking down on exporting fakes

[chris12381]

Cuban Government published new exciting regulations on April 12th related to the exportation of cigars out of the country by tourists and came into effect May 12th.  

I've pulled the relevant pages out of the entire document so you can save yourself the headache of finding it.  It is in Spanish.

https://bit.ly/gacetacuba1

 

 

[Jack]

My Spanish is a bit rusty, but that appears to establish the ability for regulations regarding the export of anything other then "factory" cigars.  Possibly an attempt to kill all custom rolls also.

EDIT: Further reading leads me to believe that this is all bark and no bite - unless you are trying to remove large quantities of non-authorized product.

Lots of exceptions and beyond that requirements for easily obtainable paperwork.  As long as you are under 50 customs upon exit you can find a way.  Over that an you'll have to come up with Festival packaging or some form of bakshish.

[cigcars]

    *Wasn't able to find the "translate page" section above in the address bar

 

[MrVoyondon69]

4 minutes ago, Jack said:

My Spanish is a bit rusty, but that appears to establish the ability for regulations regarding the export of anything other then "factory" cigars.  Possibly an attempt to kill all custom rolls also.

I would agree with you Jack. The real threat for them here might be cuban families selling customs at a premium...aka capitalism within communism...probably a big no no in their eyes...but then again who knows.

[Ryan]

Something is being said about how much they actually care, or know, when Cuban customs are still using the term "el nivel de acuso", 23 years after it became defunct.

The simple rule. Any cigars bought in shops in Cuba, get Facturas and have them ready to show at the airport. As long as you're patient and not greedy, that will cover you for some other stuff.

[chris12381]

I noted: 50 cigars (2  boxes) (down from 4 boxes) now require an official receipt. 

It used to be 24 loose cigars without any receipt.  That seems to be down to 20.

The other interesting thing is that it says the boxes must be closed with all appropriate labels.  I hope by closed they are not meaning sealed because...you'd be out of your damn mind to not open and inspect every box you purchase on island. 

 

Also, you can receive boxes by mail now?

[riderpride]

I haven't translated it yet,  but it sounds like this is all taking place after cash has changed hands. Tourists with little knowledge get penalized and the cigars stay on the island for further circulation. 

Hopefully it addresses the side-door transactions by tracing it back to the factory at least. 

Cheers

[JohnnyO]

These rules have been in place for quite some time (years). Nothing has changed. The only thing they did was get more specific about the labels and feria humidors. John