The State Council published this Friday the updated, revised, and agreed text of the , which establishes the general legal framework for the organization and operation of these entities in Cuba.
The regulation appeared in the and allows cooperatives to carry out direct exports of their products in accordance with current legislation and receive foreign investment.
The publication responds to the mandate of the Final Provision Two of Decree-Law 121, approved on July 16, 2026, and published in the Ordinary Official Gazette No. 75 on September 9, 2026, which ordered the updating and harmonization of the original text of Decree-Law 76, issued on September 18, 2023.
That modifying decree introduced changes to 29 articles of the agricultural cooperative regime and repealed article 31 of the previous text, as part of the 176 measures for economic and social transformation ratified by the National Assembly in June 2026.
According to its first article, the regulation aims to "establish the general legal framework that governs the organization, incorporation, operation, integration, division, merger, dissolution, and termination of agricultural cooperatives."
The decree-law recognizes three types of agricultural cooperatives: the Credit and Services Cooperative (CCS), the Agricultural Production Cooperative (CPA), and the Basic Unit of Cooperative Production (UBPC).
Among its guiding principles are voluntariness, democratic control, autonomy, economic participation, education, cooperation, and social responsibility.
The regulation defines agricultural cooperatives as "a voluntary association of individuals to meet the economic, social, and cultural needs of its members, as well as the social interest, with a business management model based on joint ownership, supported by the work of the cooperators."
The text also establishes that these entities have their own legal personality and assets, and that they can carry out direct exports of their products in accordance with current legislation.
One of the most relevant provisions, modified by Decree-Law 121/2026, allows cooperatives to "be direct subjects of foreign investment in the forms of mixed companies or international economic association contracts," subject to the approval of their General Assembly.
The regulation also enables these entities to partner with state entities and non-state management forms in Cuba, as well as to integrate with one another and create second-degree cooperatives.
Decree-Law 76 replaces Decree-Law 365 "On Agricultural Cooperatives" from October 22, 2018, and its regulation, Decree 354 from December 18, 2018, the application experience of which, along with the transformations in the agricultural and forestry sector, prompted the update of the legal framework.
The considerations of the regulation recognize the cooperative sector as "an essential actor in national and territorial development," in a context where various sources estimate that between 80% and 90% of the food produced in Cuba comes from these forms of management.
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