Attorney Gil Nadel
A few months ago, the Israeli government reached a decision to implement the recommendations of the Trachtenberg Committee which aim to ease the economic burden of Israeli citizens.
Perhaps the most prominent means for achieving this objective is to encourage the competition that is achieved through a series of facilitations to Israeli importing, a lessening of bureaucracy, and an increase in trade between Israel and the world. With this objective in mind, it was decided, among other things, to change the policy of standardization in Israel.
Here we present the primary points of the government's decision on this matter.
A. Fostering international standardization and establishing a fostering committee
According to the free import decree, 2011 (hereinafter: "free import decree") there are certain types of goods whose importation requires an Official Standard certificate (OS).
A key decision that was made regarding this decree is that the Director General of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor in collaboration with the Israeli Standards Institute will draw out plans for replacing the Israeli standards which require an OS certificate, so that by the end of 2012 these standards will be replaced with known international standards that are implemented in the world's developed countries.
It was furthermore decided that the Minister of Finance together with the Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor will work towards amending the Standardization Law, 1953 (hereinafter: "the Standardization Law") or any other relevant legislation, with the goal of implementing changes that are pertinent to complying with international standards and their regular updates as well as the authority of the standardization supervisor.
These changes will include a directive stating that international standards alone will be declared official, unless the standardization supervisor will provide a written estimation which states that there is no relevant international standard that may be considered OS.
In addition, a change in international standards that has been declared as OS in Israel will be presented by the Standards Institute to the Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor, so that the latter may foster it into the Israeli standardization within three months of the international change coming into effect.
It was decided to establish a fostering committee- headed by the standardization supervisor at the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, and comprising of a representative of the Standards Institute, a representative of the consumer organizations, a public representative observer on behalf of the importers organizations and public representative observer on behalf of the industrialists organizations. When requested by the Minister of Industry Trade and Labor to do so, this committee will examine whether a change in international standards should be fostered into the Israeli market in its entirety, or only partially, or to reject it completely. The committee will reach a decision based on recommendations and justifications, within a timeframe not exceeding three months of being requested to do so.
It was furthermore decided that the Standards Institute will discuss the recommendations of the fostering committee. Any recommendations that will be received will be transferred for processing, for changing the relevant standard and for the approval of the Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor within 30 days. If the Standards Institute will decide to reject these recommendations, they must provide their reasoning for this decision within 30 days to the Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor and they must publish their decision and its reasons on their website.
B. Increasing the authority of the Standardization Supervisor
Likewise, it was decided to give the Standardization Supervisor additional authority in issues such as publishing public announcements dealing with the dangers of using a product that is not compatible with OS instructions and obligating the dealer of such a product to notify the public of this; the authority to instruct the dealer to recall products that do not comply with OS instructions, or products that are suspected of such, or products that do not comply with the instructions determined by the Supervisor of Standardization of Imported Goods; the authority to publicly publish the findings of tests ordered by him on certain products and to warn the public of any concern to their safety and health in using these products. The Standardization Supervisor will be given the authority to impose a dealer, after providing his reasons for such, with the publishing expenses, in their entirety or partially.
C. Ammending the Import and Export Directive
In addition to the above mentioned amendments and with the objective of bringing the Israeli standardization policies up to par with those practiced in other developed countries, it has been decided to make changes in the Import and Export Directive [updated version], 1979, as well as in other relevant legislative commands, such as:
It has been decided to amend the Supervising Decree determined in clause 2 of the Directive, such that instead of the requirement to produce an OS certificate or a certificate from the Standards Institute regarding the compliance of the goods to the technical specifications of the Israeli OS, as a condition for importing the goods into the local market, it will be determined that an importer requesting to import a product to Israel will be required to submit an affidavit to the Standardization Supervisor, according to the Supervisor's instructions, which will expound the compliance of the imported goods to the requirements of the Israeli Official Standard, and the exporter will also meet other stipulations for marketing the product in Israel, according to the Supervisor's demands.
It was furthermore decided to give the Standardization Supervisor further authority, to determine, according to his professional assessment, any additional testing for previously deceptive importers, and furthermore, to determine that should there be a new standard for a certain product the importer will be required to test whether it meets the requirements of this new standard for a period of up to one year or until its classification is determined by the Supervisor in his instructions, whichever is first to occur.
D. Other important decisions
It was decided to appoint the Standardization Supervisor as responsible for those cases in which he believes there is need to conduct product tests, for reasons of protecting public health, public safety, and protecting the environment, the obligation to conduct such tests will be done while taking into consideration the customary policies for testing similar products in developed countries with significant markets.
In addition, it was decided to appoint inspectors on behalf of the Standardization Supervisor whose job would be to conduct random sampling tests of shipments, for the purpose of verifying the correspondence of the goods in the shipment to the conditions for release that were determined by the Standardization Supervisor. These inspectors will work according to a work plan determined by the Standardization Supervisor with special emphasis placed on reducing the delays and expenses that are inherent to the importation process.
Another means for improving the efficiency of the process is pushing towards signing international treaties with other countries. These treaties are usually mutual and allow for recognition of certificates of compliance with required standards or any other technical demands, which shortens the testing process. It was decided that the task of signing such treaties would be instituted upon the Director General of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor.
It is important to note that following the recommendations of the Trachtenberg Committee the Standardization Supervisor published an announcement stating that the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor intends to change the classification of goods that are tested in accordance with the official Israeli standards by providing additional facilitation on import tests of certain products. The facilitation in testing will be achieved by transferring certain standards and products from strict standard classifications to standard classifications that facilitate import testing.
In the bottom line, the government seems to be taking steps towards easing importation and solving bureaucratic difficulties. Only time will tell if this policy change is enough, or whether the government needs to take it a few steps further.
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