Abstract
It has been suggested on occasion that the Fund should take an initiative in issuing formal interpretations more frequently. This suggestion has been made in connection with Article VIII, Section 2(b), on the ground that this provision has an impact on the rights and obligations of private parties and the courts have not been expert in their understanding of it. The interpretations that are referred to in this connection are not confined to the text of Article VIII, Section 2(b), but include interpretations of other provisions that may be necessary in order to enable the courts to apply Article VIII, Section 2(b). The point has been made most recently in connection with the litigation involving a vast number of life insurance policies issued to Cuban residents by U.S. and Canadian companies that had been doing business in Cuba.72 The policyholders became refugees after the present regime came to power in Cuba, and then sued on the policies in courts in the United States and Canada. One of the defenses advanced by the insurance companies was the argument that the new regime had adopted exchange control regulations which prevented payment to the policyholders outside Cuba. The companies argued that the courts were bound by Article VIII, Section 2(b), to recognize these regulations. The cases undoubtedly raised many difficult issues of the interpretation of Article VIII, Section 2(b), and other provisions of the Articles. No one of the three members that had some connection with the litigation, Canada, Cuba, and the United States, requested an interpretation, and the Fund volunteered none. In response to requests by counsel for a number of litigants, the Fund did provide a statement which dealt in general terms with the sole question of the consistency of Cuban exchange control regulations with the Articles.73
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