The Government of Cuba has announced that the following decrees have officially come into force:
- Decree-Law No. 35 on Telecommunications, Information and Communication Technologies and the Use of the Radioelectric Spectrum of 13 April 2021;
- Decree No. 42 General Regulation of Telecommunications and Information and Communication Technologies of 24 May 2021;
- Decree No. 43 Regulation on the Use of the Radioelectric Spectrum of 24 May 2021;
- Resolution No. 108 Regulation of Interconnection, Access and Essential Installations of Telecommunications Networks of 9 August 2021;
- Resolution No. 107 Regulations for the Use of Satellite Radiocommunications Services of 9 August 2021;
- Resolution No. 105 National Action Model for responding to Cybersecurity Incidents of 9 August 2021.
Key highlights of these legislations governing country’s telecom sectors are:
- Intended at developing technological convergence as well as protecting the interests, rights and privacy of citizens
- Prohibits spreading content that attacks “the constitutional, social and economic” rules of the state or that incite demonstrations or other acts “that alter public order.” It also targets messages that justify violence or that affect people’s privacy or dignity.
- The decree bans “cyberterrorism” aimed at subverting order or destabilizing the country, categorizing it as a crime of “very high” danger such as banning the spread of false news or messages and content deemed offensive or which “incite mobilizations or other acts that upset public order.”
- Defines and outlines the services that are considered as Universal Telecommunications Services, which operators must guarantee to provide to all citizens, regardless of their location, and sets out the regulations on the use of spectrum on the island.
- Penalties to be set in legislation later.
- A form has been provided that people can fill out to denounce “cybersecurity incidents.”
*Tanvi Singh, Editorial Assistant has reported this brief.