The cost of living comes up for discussion mainly in the context of food, but the tax reform was supposed to save thousands of shekels for an average Israeli family every year (Photo: ShutterStock)
This coming Sunday, January 1, the most significant reform to lower the cost of living was supposed to go into effect - the perfume reform, a move that should allow the import of products that meet the European standard without the need for a special Israeli standard and reduce the basket by thousands of shekels per year per family.
Although everyone understands the need to implement the reform immediately, it will not be implemented at the beginning of the new year.
The Ministry of Health, which trusts it, has already announced that only a very small and insignificant part of the products that should be included in it, will receive its approval at the beginning of the new year.
Its importance will be delayed for many months, and we will continue to pay exorbitant amounts for a moisturizer that we can buy for a quarter of the price abroad, an exorbitant price for toothpastes that cost pennies in every supermarket in Europe and sell a kidney to have the privilege of spritzing our bodies with a luxury perfume.
The parties involved in promoting the reform point the finger of blame at the officials of the Ministry of Health who, according to them, are doing everything they can to delay, thwart and damage it.
The one who predicted that this would happen was the Minister of Economy, Orna Barbiei, who took it upon herself to lead the import reform.
On the evening of the concluding debate on the Settlements Law, he addressed the Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett and the Minister of Health, Nitzan Horvitz, and offered to transfer to her also the taxes.
The Ministry of Health strongly objected - and have been dragging their feet ever since.
Why does toothpaste in an average supermarket in Europe cost about 3 times the price in Israel? (Photo: ShutterStock)
The officials do not give up
According to the reform, an additional route should be opened for importers so that they do not need a prior marketing license for each product, and can be satisfied with a statement to the Ministry of Health about the product and its safety, and it was expected to save approximately NIS 650 million per year for the economy.
Among the products included in it you can find aftershave, deodorant, powder, nail polish, shampoo, conditioner, body soap and body cream.
Currently, this approval will come through a simplified route and a parallel import of only 15 types of perfumes from the entire perfume market.
Why is the opposition so strong?
Is it because of the intense activity of the lobbyists hired by the large Turkish importers who try to curb competition in every way, or is it an outdated and fixed concept of bureaucracy, and there is no determined minister who knocks on the table and manages it?
The moderates claim that the reason is purely professional: the professional echelon in the Ministry of Health perceives itself as the one responsible for public health and therefore must be careful about minor and serious, even when there is no need for it.
After all, we can bring body cream from abroad to Israel ourselves and God forbid we get a serious skin disease, but a parallel importer is not allowed to bring the exact same cream, lest it gets absorbed into the skin of
the person applying it. Everything is too slow and overly strict and they don't see the cost of living in front of their eyes.
Passing such a reform involves the Sisyphean work of going over tens of thousands of articles and subsections of thousands of products. A week before the reform came into effect, most of the products should have already been in the final stages of approval, but in the office Health is not in a hurry to get anywhere and they are, somewhere, at the beginning of the road.
More in Walla!
The device that makes a revolution in the fight against wrinkles - in an introductory sale
Served on behalf of B Cure Laser
Nitzan Horvitz, outgoing Minister of Health.
Why did the Ministry of Health drag its feet? (Photo: official website, Meretz)
The minister gave birth to a mouse
"We all talk about how much food prices contribute to the cost of living," says attorney Rachel Gor, director of the government sector at "Lobby 99". % to 200%. This is the really big discount. What's more, food cannot sit on the shelf for a long time, because its validity is short, while perfumes can be used even after a few years.
"Approving the import of perfumes goes against the DNA.
of the Ministry of Health.
They don't want to lose control over the granting of licenses, compared to the Ministry of Energy and the Economy who gave it up without a problem, in favor of the citizens.
In the end it is about risk management.
Not everything needs to be enforced.
"You also have to take into account that they are used to working with the big importers, Diplomat, Procter & Gamble, and Stovitch, and they continue to meet with them regularly, because the lobbyist law does not apply in government offices. We don't know who goes in there and what he does. The importers are there, startling and frightening that there There is an existential danger here if every product is not rigorously tested and we repeatedly mention the Remedia affair, that some of the officials were there when it exploded and it will be a warning sign for them.
"What is needed is a minister who is willing to promote reform.
Horvitz was not present at the discussions, did not press and did not care, compared to the Minister of Economy who conducted the discussions with a high hand.
Throughout the process, the Ministry of Health found excuses, once they failed to recruit inspectors and once they could not find approved laboratories and now they require importers to list the secret formula of each preparation on the box.
It's like demanding that Coca-Cola publish its secret formula, it won't happen."
About the knife: Why do you even need permission from the Ministry of Health to import razors to Israel - and other ones that are sold in Europe and the USA? (Photo: ShutterStock)
Why do you need a permit for razors?
The list of products that have been approved for parallel import is limited in the meantime and alongside baby products, which one can understand why their approval is delayed, strangely it does not include, for example, Gillette's razors, Colgate's toothpaste and well-known cosmetic brands.
What will happen next?
The law allows the Minister of Health to ask the Health Committee for one postponement of up to nine months, upon the entry into force of the reform, so that it will enter into force by September 2023 at the
latest
. The professionals in the Ministry of Health do and will continue to do for the public and their health professionally and impartially.
As we have published several times in the last few days, after months of hard work, the reform will be launched gradually on January 1st, when in the first phase the corresponding import, which is a significant part of the reform, will come into effect.
At the beginning of the second quarter of 2023, after the completion of the organizational preparation, the rest of the reform will come into effect.
This is a significant and wide-ranging move to which many resources and efforts have been devoted by all the relevant parties in the Ministry of Health, and we hope that it will lead to a drop in prices that will make it easier for consumers."
Of money
our money
Tags
cosmetics
face cream
deodorant
Ministry of Health
Razors
