The Council of Ministers of Cuba approved the , which establishes the operational standards for the regime of property, possession, succession due to death, and use of land and agricultural assets by individuals and entities on the island.
The regulation, signed by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz on August 27, 2026, was published this Wednesday in the , covering pages 103 to 150.
The decree elaborates on the regulations of Law 185, approved by the National Assembly on July 29, 2026, which the text itself describes as the general framework for "the appropriate regulation, management, and administration of land as a fundamental means of production, aimed at agricultural development, as the foundation for food sovereignty, the revaluation of rural life, and social justice."
Among its provisions, Decree 175 regulates twelve matters: the declaration of idle or poorly used land, registration activities, land transfers and withdrawals, the allocation of land through the real right of usufruct and its termination, the fundamental production line, acts of property transfer, the division or consolidation of land, the declaration of illegal occupancy, inheritance in the event of the death of a landowning farmer, agrarian affairs commissions, the administrative sanctioning procedure, and the resolution of agrarian conflicts.
One of the most significant institutional developments is the creation of the Administrative Land Registry by the Ministry of Agriculture, with offices at the central, provincial, and municipal levels, "for administrative control regarding land use and its allocation through the real right of usufruct," as stated in Article 6.1 of the regulation.
Individuals and legal entities who are owners and usufructuaries of land are subject to registration in that registry.
Article 3 grants the municipal agriculture delegate the authority to declare land as idle or poorly utilized and to apply administrative sanction procedures to the titleholder, whether they are an owner, administrator, or usufructuary.
In the case of state-owned land management companies, the regulation adds the obligation to transfer the declared idle land through the real right of usufruct.
An appeal against the resolution of the municipal delegate is allowed, as stipulated in Article 5.2.
The decree expressly repeals Decree 203 of 1995, concerning violations of the regime of possession, ownership, and inheritance of land, and Decree 350 of 2018, which regulates the regime for the allocation of idle state lands for usufruct, subsequently modified in 2024 by Decree 105, "as well as the regulations that complement it."
Agricultural administrative procedures will be resolved by a pronouncement from the Minister of Agriculture or from the delegated officials in Agriculture as appropriate, and they are additionally governed by Law 169 of the Administrative Procedure of 2024.
Gaceta No. 75 represented a comprehensive legislative package for the agricultural sector: in addition to Law 185 and Decree 175, it included six decrees-law from the Council of State modifying regulations on cooperatives, zoogenetic and phytogenetic resources, agricultural mechanization, soil conservation, and fertilizers, as well as five resolutions from the Ministry of Agriculture.
The Law 185 comes into effect 90 calendar days after its publication in the Official Gazette, which places its effective application around December 8, 2026.
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