The tariff benefit in the importation of foodmedicines and toilet without commercial, whose deadline was fulfilled this September 30, extended again until January 31, 2026.
The measure, which enables the entry of those inputs without a commercial character, by means of passengers or accompanied luggage, had been extending for less time. It is now maintained in longer lapses – symptile at the beginning of its application in 2021 – while the crisis and the shortcomings have continued to sharpen on the island.
According to the journalist Lázaro Manuel Alonso in Facebookalso remains until that date the possibility of importing electric plants with powers exceeding 900 W, taking into account the situation of the national electrical system.
That decision had been made in parallel to the other products already mentioned. This measure seeks to relieve, in a certain way and for those who can do it, the severe energy crisis and the prolonged blackouts that the country currently suffers.
The measure is supported in the Official Gazette No. 59 Extraordinaryof September 19, 2025.
It is confirmed that articles classified as food or toilet, medicines and medical supplies, which are imported as part of the passenger luggage, as well as shipments, “will be presented to the customs in bursts separated from the rest of the products, for the application of the benefits established in the approved legal norms.”
With a marked temporal character, in the implementation of this measure “people who use these profit and not to satisfy personal and family consumption have been identified,” said a note spread by Cubadebate.
Cuba extends for five months the free import of food, medicines and other products tariffs
In 2024, 118 violations related to tariff exemptions were recorded; And only in the first quarter of 2025 104 infractions have already been reported, after which 8978 kg of medicines, food and cleaning products were seized, as part of the border control actions.
The island lives a crisis that has decimated the purchasing power of citizens and paralyzed key sectors of the economy. The Government holds the United States sanctions already called “recruited economic war”, although it also recognizes its own inefficiencies, said the agency EFE.
The national economy, which fell 1.1 % in 2024 and that ECLAC foresees follow in red numbers this year, faces daily blackouts of more than ten hours, lack of supplies and specialized human capital, low public transport, irregularities in the running water and a strong devaluation of the Cuban peso against the dollar.
