The Council of State is the body of the National Assembly of People's Power that represents it in the period between sessions, puts its resolutions into effect and complies with all the other duties assigned by the Constitution.

It is collegiate and for national and international purposes it is the highest representative of the Cuban state.

The Council of State is invested with the power to:
a) summon special sessions of the National Assembly of People's Power;
b) set the date for the elections for the periodic renovation of the National Assembly of People's Power;
c) issue decree-laws in the period between the sessions of the National Assembly of People's Power;
d) give existing laws a general and obligatory interpretation whenever necessary;
e) exercise legislative initiative;
f) make all the necessary arrangements for the holding of referendums called for by the National Assembly of People's Power;
g) decree a general mobilization whenever the defense of the country makes it necessary and assume the authority to declare war in the event of aggression or to approve peace treaties - duties which the Constitution assigns to the National Assembly of People's Power - when the Assembly is in recess and cannot be called to session with the necessary security and urgency;
h) replace, at the initiative of its president, the members of the Council of Ministers in the period between the sessions of the National Assembly of People's Power;
i) issue general instructions to the courts through the Governing Council of the People's Supreme Court;
j) issue instructions to the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic;
k) appoint and remove, at the initiative of its president, the diplomatic representatives of Cuba in others states;
l) grant decorations and honorary titles;
m) name commissions;
n) grant pardons;
o) ratify or denounce international treaties;
p) grant or refuse recognition to diplomatic representatives of other states;
q) suspend those provisions of the Council of Ministers and the resolutions and provisions of the Local Assemblies of People's Power which run counter to the Constitution or the law or which run counter to the interests of other localities or to the general interests of the country, reporting on this action to the National Assembly of People's Power in the first session held following the suspension agreed upon;
r) revoke those resolutions and provisions of the local bodies of People's Power which infringe the Constitution, the laws, the decree-laws, the decrees and other provisions issued by a higher body or when they are detrimental to the interests of other localities or to the general interests of the nation;
s) approve its rules and regulations;
t) it is also invested with the other powers conferred by the Constitution and laws or granted by the National Assembly of People's Power.

All the decisions of the Council of State are adopted by a simple majority vote of its members.

The mandate entrusted to the Council of State by the National Assembly of People's Power expires when the new Council of State, elected by virtue of its periodic renovation, takes power.