Cuba

Operating a Business in Cuba

Types of companies and capital (max/min)	Number of partners/shareholders and liability	Registration fees
Public Limited Company No minimum amount	2 minimum Liability is limited to their investment.
Mixed company
International economic partnership contract
Production collaboration contract
Administrative production contract

Business setup procedures: The Articles of Incorporation of a company must be notarized and must be made up of the economic association contract, articles themselves and investment authorization.
The Articles are deposited and registered at the Registration of Trade. Mixed economy companies as well as foreign capital companies must be registered at the Register of Companies of the Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of Cuba, within 30 days of the delivery of the license.
The international economic association contract (joint-venture) must be recorded and registered with the Registar of the appropriate Chamber of Commerce, likewise within 30 days.
The competent organization: The Ministry of Foreign Investment and Economic Co-operation, through the Evaluation and Project Investment management leadership (Direccion de Evaluacion y Gestion de Proyectos de Inversion, DEGPI) is in charge of negotiations with foreign partners. The Ministry then gives the selected projects to the Excecutive Committee of the Council of Ministers, which gives the final decision.

Legal weekly duration: 8 hours per day and 44 hours per week
Retirement age: 60 years for men and 55 years for women who have 25 years of service.
55 years for men and 50 years for women if the last 12 years or 75% involved working in a physically taxing environment
Working contracts: Employment contracts are permanent, temporary or task specific.
The 1995 law on foreign investments requires that investors use the State employment agency to hire workers.

Minimum wage: Resolution number 30/05 of the State Council established a salary scale from which all salaries should be based in all activitity sectors all professions.
The lowest salary is at 225 CUP (€ 6) and the highest is at 650 CUP (€ 17)
Average wage: Average monthly gross earnings in Cuba is CUP 440 (USD 19).
Social contributions: Social security contributions paid by employers: Employer's contribution: 14%
Social security contributions paid by employees: Employee's contribution: 0%

Social dialogue and involvement of social partners: The only legal union in Cuba is the Main Cuban Workers' Union (CTC) which is heavily dependant on the government. The workers are obliged to observer their colleagues and to report all "dissident" activity. The independent union activists are regularly subjected to detentions, harassment and threatened with trial. Despite everything, the existing organisations do not have the capacity to defend the workers in an efficient way. As they are not recognized, they cannot undertake collective negotiations or call for strikes.
Unions: The Main Cuban Workers' Union
Unionization rate: 96% of Cuban employees are affiliated to the Main Cuban Workers' Union (according to the CTC' own figures)
Labor regulation bodies: Ministry of Labor and Social Security
Cuba and Mexico International Labor Organization (Spanish only)