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Director General of the Ministry of Economy: Food reform is stuck because of the Ministry of Health - Walla! Money

2022-05-22T11:52:23.855Z


The Director General of the Ministry of Economy believes that the import reform will lead to significant savings in our expenses and blames the Ministry of Health for its inability to anticipate the significant reform in food


Director General of the Ministry of Economy: Food reform is stuck because of the Ministry of Health

The director general of the Ministry of Economy believes that the import reform will lead to significant savings in our expenses, does not hide the frustration of rising energy prices worldwide, which increase production and shipping costs - and prevent us from enjoying the savings, and accuses the Ministry of Health of delaying more significant food reform

Liat Ron

22/05/2022

Sunday, 22 May 2022, 14:26 Updated: 14:43

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On June 1, the import reform, the largest and most significant reform made in Israel in the field of standards, will be launched, with the aim of lowering the cost of living.

The essence of the reform, led by the Ministry of Economy, is the removal of bureaucratic barriers and the transition to a new import model, which will not require Israeli standards, which cost a lot of money and made the procedure cumbersome.



It is sufficient for the importer to declare that the product he is importing complies with an international European or American standard and he will be able to bring it into the country.

The Ministry of Economy hopes that lowering imports and accelerating competition will lower the price of their products by at least 10%.

But will the discount roll into our pocket?

We'll get to that soon, too.



Ostensibly, this is great news for consumers, who will be able to buy more imported products for less money.

The problem is that the products that have entered the reform, occupy only a small share in the Israeli consumer basket, while the food and cosmetics import reform, a centralized market that is priced at high prices and constitutes the majority of monthly expenditure, will take effect only in early 2023.



The director general of the Ministry of Economy, Dr. Ron Malka, points an accusing finger at the Ministry of Health.

"The food and cosmetics reform is the sole responsibility of the Ministry of Health," he explains, "and not our authority. We offered our help to advance it before January 1, 2023 and they fail to meet the target. It is amazing that we have thousands of standards and only 15 standards and all "Unfortunately, this is not happening. If it were up to us, the food and cosmetics import reform would be underway now."

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Dr. Ron Malka, Director General of the Ministry of Economy (Photo: PR)

The import reform introduces a change in hundreds of standards that required the import of thousands of products, including electrical accessories, baby strollers, beds and cribs, children's bicycles, sunglasses refrigerators, tampons, heaters and pressure cookers.

In addition, a new route will be opened where it will be possible to import products that do not have Israeli standards at all, but have received approval for standards abroad, so we can see in stores products that were not here before.



These are three import routes: Under the standard standards procedures in a standards institute or private laboratory. Out of 244 standards belonging to this group today, only 110 standards will remain. The second group includes 172 standards and the products included in it will test a sample test. Safety.



In order to determine which standards can be waived, a special committee convened, which passed standard-standard and approved it.

According to Malka, there are dozens of standards that the regulators demanded strict Israeli standards and the Ministry of Economy did not accept their claim and opened them to international standards only.



"We have changed the paradigm, but only in products that do not pose a safety and health hazard to the public," he explains.

"We have set up an advanced computer system in collaboration with customs, which knows how to monitor certain characteristics of the goods, which may indicate an attempt not to meet the new requirements we set and this is not a random sampling."

DA Malka: "If I ride a bike and until now I could only buy four companies of bicycles that have passed Israeli standards" (Photo: ShutterStock)

Trust the competition

What happens to an importer who reports a false report and puts in illegal goods on import?



"We have drastically tightened the sanctions against them. Whoever improves the trust, his license will be revoked immediately, he may receive a fine that can reach millions of shekels and if it is a criminal offense, he can also receive a prison sentence.



" Develop the insurance that will not only be for the importer, but for the specific products he imports.

If an insurance company sets an unusually high premium for a particular product, we will be able to locate it and check why.

Our motivation is to go to war with the cost of living and we take a calculated risk, only in products that will not harm public safety and health, for which "



you are talking about 10% cost savings. In all previous reforms, cost reduction has not rolled into the consumer's pocket.



"This is where the competition will come into the picture. We saved on importers' costs and now imports will be fully open to everyone. If I ride a bike and until now I could only buy four companies that have passed Israeli standards, it will be possible to import from anywhere in Europe and the US."

The Israeli consumer is smart and sophisticated.

He knows what concessions were given to importers and he knew how to demand the discount he deserved.

That is why we have published comparisons of product prices in the past, between Israel and the world. "The



comparison with the products with abroad has failed, and with it the corresponding import reform.



"We have no control over the prices of energy and raw materials, transport prices have also risen tenfold. Prices have risen all over the world, but the question is not whether prices have risen, but how much they have risen. There is no production without energy and we have no control over it."

Rami Levy is furious at the Economics Committee, about six months ago.

What is the status of the investigation?

Dr. Ron Malka refuses to comment (Photo: Photo Processing, Yonatan Zindel)

And what about the Competition Authority's investigation into price coordination?

Speaking of the cost of living, where is the price coordination investigation in the "Competition Authority"?

Will indictments be filed?



"I can not relate to an investigation when it is conducted. These are complex investigations and I am waiting for findings like yours."


Meanwhile, the economy minister is opposed to raising bread under supervision.

It probably will not lower the cost of living.



"There is a public whose supervised bread is its basic food and we do not want to harm it. We are in negotiations with the bread makers to replace the control from processed flour, the so-called 'uniform bread', to wholemeal flour - healthier breads.

"They claim that they will not produce the full bread if it is supervised, but the Ministry of Economy sees the whole picture and the public good."



Will the import reform really roll into the consumer's pocket? Caught at customs terminals, joining traffic jams at ports.



The quantities of goods waiting for the approval of the standard are enormous, and the cost of storage until the approval is received is estimated at millions per year, not to mention the additional delay in distribution.

The Ministry of Economy intends to monitor price products to ensure that not only importers will benefit from the reform, but so will we.

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  • Import

  • food

  • Ministry of Economy

  • Ministry of Health

Source: walla

All business articles on 2022-05-22

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