Wine Law

LEGAL PROFILE OF THE IMPORT, PRODUCTION AND MARKETING 431 The MSZD is the first of its kind in Cuba, enjoying a privileged geographical position, in the centre of the Caribbean Sea, at the crossroads of the main maritime traffic routes of goods in the Western Hemisphere. It provides an outstanding productive and logistic platform, which facilitates a higher level of national production while reducing import costs, boosting growth, creating jobs and facilitating foreign direct investment (FDI) 22 . The MSZD’s Office is the entity assigned to the Council of Ministers, being also in charge of administering the Zone, controlling its activities and developing and conducting its Development and Business Program. The legal regulations governing the MSZD were published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Cuba. On 23 September 2013, in its 26 th Extraordinary Edition, the Council of State published Decree-Law No. 313 “On the Special Zone for Mariel Development”, its Regulations, Decree No. 316 of the Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers, as well as the complementary legal provisions issued by the Ministers of Finance and Prices; Labour and Social Security; Science, Technology and Environment; and the Interior; as well as the Minister-President of the Central Bank of Cuba and the Head of the General Customs Office of the Republic 23 . These regulations establish for the Mariel Special Zone for Development, among other aspects, the request to the Cuban Insurance Superintendency by concessionaires and users, the authorisation required for insurance with foreign entities and the determination of the percentage amount in which these contribute to the Development Fund for the maintenance of the Zone Office; the procedure for agreeing on the payment of the supply of labour and the workers’ salary 24 . From the enactment of the Foreign Investment Act in 2014 to March 2019 several foreign-capital projects, involving 5.5 billion dollars, have been approved (Mincex Minister, 2019). In these initiatives, companies from more than 28 countries are participating in branches such as agroforestry and food, industry and oil mainly. From October 2017 to the same month in 2018, 40 new businesses were authorised for an approximate amount of 1.5 billion dollars, while negotiations are progressing on more than 30 projects 25 . 22 The Cuban state has invested an average of 300 million dollars per year in the development of high standard infrastructure, which is already available to investors; see: http://www.zedmariel.com/es. The Area of MSZD covers approximately 465 square kilometres and includes several municipalities in the province of Artemisa. For its creation, during the last years, similar experiences in different countries of the world were analysed, which were later adapted to the Cuban context. 23 See : https://www.ecured.cu/Zona_Especial_de_Desarrollo_Mariel. 24 See : http://www.zedmariel.com/es/marco-legal. 25 See : http://www.granma.cu/cuba/2018-10-31/nueva-cartera-de-oportunidades-de-inversion- extranjera-de-cuba-en-fihav-2018-31-10-2018-22-10-46.