PDF, GB, 139 p., 796 Ko - Femise

point to notify the US government on tenders valued at over US$50,000, many do not.
Notifications, say US authorities, are often received shortly before deadlines and only in
Hebrew. Complex technical specifications and kosher certification requirements discourage
foreign participation in government tenders for food (US Department of State, 2002). For
tenders not covered by the GPA, Israel's tendering regulations award price preferences to
local suppliers, certain regions, and local subcontracting. The price preferences are up to
15% for Israeli companies. And it suffices to organize a closed tender for procurement of
goods up to an amount of 312000 NIS (less than 60000 euros) by any government Ministry
(but for the Defence Ministry where the amount is limited to half this amount).
Invoking the status of developing country for applying Uruguay Round resolutions has not
been limited to the domain of government procurement, but to other highly relevant issues in
the case of Israel, such as TRIPS, where Israel was given until 2000 to change its law on
intellectual property. In fact Israel continues to invoke this status at a time it has been invited
in May 2007 to conduct negotiations for membership in the OECD. Once a member, Israel
will clearly have difficulty in justifying "infant industry-infant country" status, allowing for
disguised protectionism. Observe that Poland opted long ago not to play this game when it
decided to apply for EU membership in the mid-1990s. 51
There are huge inter-sectorial differences in the levels of protectionism applied by Israel.
Agriculture is a case in point. Since the inception of the State the agricultural sector has been
defined as one of the vital parts of the economy and the first Zionist settlers at the beginning
of the previous century dedicated themselves to its development, despite the fact that climatic
conditions in Israel are not favourable to most crops.
For the last few decades the economy’s focus has switched from agriculture to other areas of
expertise, mostly high-tech; agriculture represents only 1.6 percent of the GDP, down from
2.5 percent in 2001 (HSBC, 2004). However, in absolute terms agricultural output has grown
almost without interruption since 1948 and reached US$3.3 billion in 2000. The irony is that
Israel’s agricultural sector supplies until this very day most of the country’s food needs and
51
Poland had a chance to apply (within its Europe Agreement) a Restructuring Clause (art. 28 of EA) which
could have been applied only by Polish side in the form of temporary increased import duties. "These measures
may only concern infant industries, or certain sectors undergoing restructuring or facing serious difficulties,
particularly where these difficulties produce important social problems." This clause was invoked three times
before the accession to the EU.
94