Art. 19 of the Foreign Investment Law stipulates that, for the establishment of an international economic association, the national investor must negotiate with the foreign investor every aspect of the investment, including its economic feasibility, the respective contributions of the parties, the proposed governance and administrative structure, and the legal instruments required for its formalisation.
In the case of a wholly foreign‑owned enterprise, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment designates the Cuban entity responsible for the relevant sector, subsector, or economic activity with which the investor must examine the proposal and from which written approval must be obtained.
Art. 20 provides that the Cuban State authorises only those foreign investments that do not compromise national defence and security, the nation’s patrimony, or the environment. Art. 21 further establishes that approval to undertake foreign investments within national territory is granted, depending on the sector, modality, and characteristics of the proposed investment, by one of the following organs of the State: the Council of State, the Council of Ministers, or the head of the competent body of the Central State Administration authorised for this purpose.
The internal evaluation and follow-up process for foreign investment projects is further regulated by Resolution No. 21/2020 of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, which approves the Regulation of the Commission for the Evaluation of Foreign Investment Businesses.

Law 149/2022 includes provisions for cross-border data transfer and outlines that there are only five specific exceptions for data transfers outside the country. The cross-border data transfer is therefore only allowed in the case of international judicial cooperation, exchange of medical data when necessary for the treatment of the data subject, bank or stock exchange transfers about the relevant transactions, under applicable international treaties, and if the transfer of data is for the purpose of international cooperation in the fight against crime (Art. 65.1). In addition, Art. 66 grants to certain authorities the competencies to authorise the international transfer of personal data in other circumstances.

According to Art. 4 of Resolution No. 659/2002, foreign individuals and legal entities that lack a domicile or a real and effective commercial establishment in Cuba must be represented by an Official Agent for any legal act carried out before the Cuban Industrial Property Office. In addition, Art. 15.4 of Decree-Law No. 290/2012 provides that, where a patent applicant lacks a domicile or a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment in Cuba, an agent residing in Cuba must act as intermediary.

Cuba is a party to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). However, the country does not consider itself bound by Art. 59 related to disputes.

Cuba has a copyright regime under the Law No. 154 of 2022. However, the exceptions do not follow the fair use or fair dealing model, therefore limiting the lawful use of copyrighted work by others. Art. 86 lists the exceptions, including the use of: creations in accessible formats for persons with disabilities, to the extent required by them; conferences, speeches and other works of the same nature, broadcast in public, when such use is justified by the informative purpose pursued; creations resulting from academic or research activities, such as degree works, science, technology and innovation projects, academic articles; among others.

Copyright is not adequately enforced online in Cuba. It has been reported that grassroots digital innovations, such as El Paquete Semanal, have facilitated access to extensive collections of frequently pirated digital content, relying on implicit government tolerance. It is also reported that the issue of piracy becomes even more complex on state-run digital platforms in Cuba, where foreign series, movies, and other materials are distributed. A notable example in the telecommunications sector is the illegal use of Windows, as the country lacks the means to obtain licenses. This situation extends to other content broadcast on television and to tools such as Office, the Adobe suite, and many others.

Cuba has not adopted the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty.

Cuba has not adopted the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Performances and Phonograms Treaty.

Decree-Law No. 337 provides a framework for effective protection of trade secrets.

Art. 55 of Decree-Law No. 35 stipulates that there is a mandate for operators to share certain resources associated with ducts, conduits, towers, poles, and other facilities. Art. 29 defines passive telecommunications infrastructures as installations that are primarily composed of towers, masts, poles, ducts, channels, conduits, chambers, cables, and dark fibre, among other components, and which are situated in various locations, including aerial, terrestrial, underground, submarine, or underwater.

The Cuban telecommunications framework is defined by the prohibition of private provision of internet and mobile services and by the concentration of control in the state-owned operator Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba S.A. (ETECSA), through which all internet access is channelled and whose subsidiary Cubacel serves as the sole mobile provider. This structure is legally reinforced by Art. 1 of Decree No. 124/2025, which grants ETECSA an administrative concession to provide public telecommunications services nationwide, while Art. 3 defines the scope of those services to include basic telephony, signal-carrying services, data transmission, and terrestrial mobile cellular telecommunications, and Art. 4.1 establishes an exclusivity period extending until 2036. In parallel, the Annex of Decree No. 107, specifically activities 65 and 66, prohibits private micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, non-agricultural cooperatives, and self-employed workers from providing public internet access or related services.

The government holds all the shares in Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba S.A. (ETECSA), the sole telecommunications operator in Cuba, responsible for the provision of fixed, mobile, data, and internet services. The "Unnumbered Agreement of 2011 of the Council of Ministers" announced that the government had acquired full ownership of the company. Prior to this, the private firm Telecom Italia held a 27% stake in ETECSA, which was purchased by the state‑owned enterprise Rafin S.A. Since that transaction, the telecommunications company has been entirely owned by six Cuban state entities.

Cuba does not mandate functional or accounting separation for operators with significant market power (SMP) in the telecom market.

Art. 25 of Decree-Law No. 35 establishes that "public telecommunications services have priority over private telecommunications services" explicitly imposing, within a legal framework, discrimination against foreign companies in favour of the state ones. The Cuban telecommunications framework is defined by the prohibition of private provision of internet and mobile services and by the concentration of control in the state-owned operator Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba S.A. (ETECSA), through which all internet access is channelled and whose subsidiary Cubacel serves as the sole mobile provider. This structure is legally reinforced by Art. 1 of Decree No. 124/2025, which grants ETECSA an administrative concession to provide public telecommunications services nationwide, while Art. 3 defines the scope of those services to include basic telephony, signal-carrying services, data transmission, and terrestrial mobile cellular telecommunications, and Art. 4.1 establishes an exclusivity period extending until 2036. In parallel, the Annex of Decree No. 107, specifically activities 65 and 66, prohibits private micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, non-agricultural cooperatives, and self-employed workers from providing public internet access or related services.

Cuba is not a party to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA), nor does it have observer status.