Lawmakers Lash Into New EU Labeling Rules for Israeli Territories
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative should contest the European Union on new labeling requirements for Israeli goods produced in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights in line with congressional anti-boycott directives included in Trade Promotion Authority, said a bipartisan group of House and Senate lawmakers in a Nov. 12 letter (here) to USTR Michael Froman. The EU doesn’t recognize those territories as lawfully Israeli, nor do a range of countries globally.
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The new requirements (here) call for a separate set of labeling rules for goods produced by Palestinians and those produced in Israeli settlements. The new EU policy allows goods produced by Palestinians in those territories to use labels such as “product from the West Bank (Palestinian product)” or “product from Palestine.” The rules, however, bar use of the labels “product from the Golan Heights” or “product from the West Bank” for goods produced on settlements.
In condemning Israeli boycott policies in Trade Promotion Authority, lawmakers made no distinction between goods produced in Israel or those territories, said Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Ben Cardin, D-Md., along with Reps. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., and Juan Vargas, D-Calif. “This is exactly the kind of activity we anticipated when we authorized the provisions related to the boycotts, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel in [TPA],” the lawmakers said. “The legislation was designed to combat politically motivated, government-led economic attacks aimed at delegitimizing Israel’s right to exist and pressuring Israel into unilateral concessions outside the bounds of direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.”
USTR should “express opposition” to the EU on the new policy, said the lawmakers. They requested an update from the agency by Dec. 1 this year.