Economy Minister Nir Barkat held a press conference Tuesday in which he presented four legislative moves that he is initiating, most of which were published in recent weeks. "The idea is that a free import law to Israel will be of great historical significance. It opens the gates to tens of thousands of products. It bypasses all the Barriers at the Standards Institute."
According to him, "With the new law, any importer will be able to bring in any product that complies with European regulation. 25% of the products in Israel are imported and are subject to Israeli regulation. The goal is to reach 50% and it is impossible to do that. If Carrefour products are 40% cheaper, this means how much the new law can lower prices," said the Minister of Economy to the background of the law for free imports according to European standards. Barkat was referring to Carrefour, a French supermarket chain that recently opened dozens of stores in Israel, taking over locations of the Israeli 'Yayanot Beitan' supermarket chain.
Mais cโest gรฉnial รงa, merci Sana !
โ gaad (@gpaslu1) June 27, 2023
Un partenariat @shaunafts x Carrefour Tel Aviv ๐
Am Israel Haรฏ ๐ฎ๐ฑโค๏ธ https://t.co/9fZXdkM5F8 pic.twitter.com/bBQ2uufiAu
Barkat emphasized that "we are adopting the import method based on an open border. Until today, they tried to amend the law so that the Israeli regulation would be compatible with the European one, but it is impossible to get out of it.
There will be exceptions that are exceptions. We start in the food and toiletry market, but we won't stop there. Our recommendation is to expand to other areas because there is no difference."
ืื ืฉืืื ืืืืจืืคื ืืื ืืืฉืจืื ๐ช๐บ๐ฎ๐ฑ pic.twitter.com/dlbudoibGL
โ ื ืืจ ืืจืงืช (@NirBarkat) June 28, 2023
As for the schedule, he said: "We presented the model to the Ministerial Committee for Legislative Affairs. We hope that in a month and a half, we will be able to pass this law that is being read. We will present the law in a few weeks after public comments. Our goal is to reach inter-ministerial coordination in August and to lay down legislation in the winter session ".
The second expected law is the law on the dissolution of monopolies in the food market. "This is a law that came up as part of the Settlements Law. We wanted to see it as part of the Settlements Law and there was no agreement and we are bringing it back to the table. We returned it for public consideration in preparation for the Ministerial Committee on Legislative Affairs. I am obligated to increase competition in the food and toiletry market. We are looking at other subfields. The idea is to open the competition and open the European market and prevent the prevention of parallel imports."
Minister van Economie Nir Barkat wil monopolies doorbreken en prijzen verlagen. Barkat is van plan om 50% import uit Europa te bereiken door elk product dat aan de Europese normen voldoet Israรซl binnen te laten. Maar ja, dit is al vaker geprobeerd https://t.co/lPqcda8SGl pic.twitter.com/zTVxJRuUkS
โ Joop Soesan ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฑ (@JoopSoesan) June 28, 2023
Regarding the companies' involved refusal to present their financial data, Barkat said: "I did not understand what they have to hide. We want to know that they are not fooling the public. The world's inputs are decreasing. Transportation prices are decreasing and prices are increasing. How does this make sense? It is within our authority and regardless, an orderly law will be enacted that will oblige them to do it even if they still refuse."
