Good News for Cuba Travelers: Tariff Exemptions Extended
HAVANA TIMES – Cuban authorities have once again extended a set of exceptional tariff benefits, established to ease the shortage of basic necessities and the energy crisis in the country.
The new provisions were published in the Extraordinary Official Gazette No.59 and will apply until January 31, 2026.
What is being extended?
The resolutions issued by the Ministries of Finance and Prices and Public Health, together with the Customs, extend until January 2026 the exemptions that allow the non-commercial importation of food, hygiene products, medicines and medical supplies, as well as power plants with a capacity greater than 900 watts, all without paying customs duties.
How do they apply and who can use them?
The benefits are aimed at individuals, whether through accompanied luggage or shipments, provided the imports are not for commercial purposes.
To qualify for the exemption, goods must be presented separately—that is, food, hygiene products, medicines, or medical supplies must be packed separately from the rest of the luggage.
Likewise, when goods are imported as unaccompanied luggage, the established limits must be respected: a maximum value of 500 USD or its equivalent in national currency, and a weight not exceeding 50 kilograms. In the case of air, sea, or postal shipments, the permitted range is between 200 and 500 USD, with a maximum weight of 20 kilograms.
Reason behind the extension
The government argues that, despite their existing efforts, the shortage of basic goods and power outages persist. The tariff exemption for power plants is maintained as a direct response to the frequent blackouts.
It is also acknowledged that some have misused these benefits, mainly for commercial purposes. For this reason, authorities have announced tighter customs controls to prevent distortions.
Nevertheless, access to these benefits remains conditioned by citizens’ ability to travel or pay for international shipments, which sustains inequality between those who have resources abroad and those who depend exclusively on domestic distribution networks —marked by scarcity and high prices.
The requirement remains that, to qualify for exemption, items must be correctly classified as food, hygiene products, medicines, or medical supplies, and presented separately from the rest of the luggage at Customs.
If these conditions are not met, passengers or senders may be subject to paying taxes and, in some cases, confiscation of the products.
The Gazette also clarifies that the goods covered under this regime are intended solely for personal consumption and not for commercial purposes.
First published in Spanish by El Toque and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.
Please don’t travel to Cuba. All your money will end up for the Greedy Dictators terrorist regime..they need to go, and let the Cuban people to vote, the Cuban people needs your support, from the American, Canadian and the British government. Just like you give to Ukraine or another country under Fascists Dictators. They need your support with guns. Ammunition etc. To defend themselves, and a military intervention, the Dictators are killing everybody of starvation. Hospital has nothing to offer, pharmacy are empty. And people cannot afford to buy food!.. and those cretins doesn’t care.. SOS for the Cuban people. They need your support. And the EU and human rights organizations are turning the blind eye, and ignoring about what’s going on in Cuba sos sos sos.
I have a friend in Cuba, and she tells me that they treat them like animals and the government doesn’t care because what they do. Is to turn off the electricity at any time, they went for a very long period of time. And you are not allowed to have food in the fridge or milk or anything because it goes bad and they turn off the electricity all night and you suffer with the heat because you cannot have not even an air fan, but the government, people do not do that to themselves. So it’s a very big punishment to the Cuban people all over the country, no matter what.
You are allowed to have a portion of rice controlled by the government. And a portion of protein and a portion of meat.
On monthly basis and they control a chart or you have to show when you buy things.
If the chart is full and it’s not the end of the month, then, as a Cuban, you’re not allowed to buy anything until the next month. So you starve to death, and then you have to work. And there’s no work in Cuba, and a doctor can make thirty dollars a month.
Cuba has baseball as Canada has hockey, and because of the electricity that they turn off in the whole country every single day, the baseball teams in Cuba are forced to play during the day when the Sun shine. Hits horrible at 12 o’clock in the afternoon, and they have no choice. So it’s making the athletes suffer as well. And this is something that nobody talks about in these chats. And that’s the reality.
But the frog dictator of Canel Diaz, he has a very big belly and they call him the frog. Discretely, they call him that because in the public, if you give the president, any kind of nickname, then you go to jail.
Canadians have been the lifeline of the Communist dictatorship w/ their tourist CADs since the days of Pierre Trudeau…who kissed Fidel’s ass. Chetrien not far behind, building them the Havana Airport. Nice to live the luxury life of a tourist while the Cuban people go hungry! Nice going Canucks…
I have been to Cuba twice this year and going back end of Nov. I take 2 checked bags. One all donations, the other about half donations. Meds are supposed to be separate anyway in a clear securely closed bag. I put hygiene stuff in another just for ease of packing. For putting food in clear bags, I do it anyway just in case a box or something happens to get damaged, I don’t want a mess. For the lady overwhelmed by the need and she is only 1 person. I am only 1 as well and if I can help only 1 person it’s worth it to me to do what I can. I am changing lives with manual can openers. They still use a rock and a knife.
If it weren’t for the “so many” people I know that I help with goods when I travel there one or twice a year, I’d say don’t go to Cuba! The country which is to say the maggots at the top need to rot before anything changes. If anything will ever change at all. But as we who have been there know the rot and decay happen from the bottom up and I doubt it would ever reach the top! The whole country is crumbling which is evidence enough that the worms at the top do not care! They don’t!
Mail from Canada to Cuba, ~ 22 kilos, was unlimited for weight 2 yrs ago, but now is limited to 10 kilos! is the US running Canada’s mail system now!? Goods to be separated can be done at the airport taken out of your luggage then !?
It’s all so absolutely pathetic isn’t it? These terrible communists who do not of course suffer themselves & live a life if luxury whilst their people starve & for what? The Glorious scam inflicted on the people all those years ago, otherwise known as The Revolution. Pleeez. Let’s pray for a successful counter revolution asap to bring these evil people down before the country turns into another Haiti
Don’t go to Cuba! What the government needs is another uprising.
I have been trying to decide if I wanted to make another trip to Cuba to visit friends and bring them some Goods before the end of the year but the whole idea of having to pack it separately seems kind of odd because I don’t need a lot of stuff when I go to Cuba so I usually pack one bag full of donatable goods and another with my personal stuff and any other donatable thing I can shove in there. I wish there actually was a postal system where I could ship things down there. It’s not like everybody there has a vehicle and the gasoline to drive to the airport to pick up stuff.
I have mixed feelings about this as Canadian traveling to Cuba twice a year. I have always taken an extra suitcase as several times have been taken out of line to check the contents. When this happens the bus I am travelling on has to wait the extra time for me, making it stressful for me as the people who already boarded have no idea of why I am late. Also like the previous writer wrote, most of what I bring is for Cubans with very little for my personal use. I have to balance the weight, it’s not possible to pack everything separately. I have to make the most of my luggage as I also have to pay an Extra $60 canadian to bring it. Just imagine that $60 equals 4 months wage for a reg worker there. In my mind there should be no limits period. This time I have purchased 40 dollar store rechargeable lights , these will be good for when the power is off and can be recharged when power is on. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed going there as there is so much help needed and I am only one person.
I really have never separated meds food and hygiene and other stuff .. i have to balance the weights of 2 suitcases, 23 kg each , it is hard enough without having to separate all the donations into one suitcase. My personal belongings are minimal for one thing. So .. am i to understand that I can bring now something that formerly was forbidden like a small electric kettle for eg.
These are the efforts to keep alive a dying country. The ordinary people are thrown in the garbage by the government because how can they travel to another country and come back to Cuba with goods?
good news for cubans not the travelers who buy and bring the products at their own expense because the corrupt government will not supply the products to their own people, thank god for the tourists