Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-11-18-Speech-2-205"
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"en.20031118.7.2-205"2
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". – Mr President, the Commission recalls that, according to its terms, the EU-Israel Association Agreement applies solely to the territory of the State of Israel. Therefore products obtained in Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights are not entitled to preferential tariff treatment when entering the EU and proof of preferential origin issued by Israel for those products cannot be accepted by the Communities customs authorities.
In a notice published in the Official Journal of the European Communities in November 2001, the Commission informed the customs authorities of the Member States and European importers that Israel issues proof of preferential origin for products coming from places brought under Israeli administration such 1967. As a follow-up to that notice, the customs authorities of the EU Member States are screening all imports from Israel in order to identify the unlawfully issued proofs of origin and return the proofs of origin concerned to Israel in accordance with the verification procedure provided for in Article 32 of Protocol 4 to the Agreement.
The Israeli replies, in the context of these verification procedures, do not distinguish between production in the settlements and production in the territory of the State of Israel. According to Article 32 of Protocol 4 to the Agreement, entitlement to the preferences is refused if there is no reply to the request for verification within ten months, or if the reply does not contain sufficient information to determine the authenticity of the proof of origin in question or the real origin of the products. It falls within the competence of the national customs authorities to determine, for each and every individual consignment, whether, under those provisions, the elements of fact and law allow refusal of the preferential tariff treatment. Refusal of the preference gives rise to a customs debt which the customs authorities of the Member States must recover, since, under Community law, they are responsible for the collection of the custom duties which are the Communities' traditional own resources.
The EU takes every opportunity to find a solution to the problem of the imports of products from the Israeli settlements and considers that this issue should be resolved before amending the EU-Israel protocol on rules of origin for the extension of the pan-European cumulation of origin to the Mediterranean countries.
As to the creation of qualified industrial zones in the EC's trade relations with Jordan and Israel, the Commission is at the stage of carrying out a technical analysis and no conclusions have been drawn.
If an additional question is put forward here, asking why the Commission has not formally proposed the arbitration procedure which is part of all this, I would respond by saying that arbitration is, indeed, a possible measure planned in our Association Agreement in case there are differences in interpretation.
Nevertheless, the Commission has so far taken the necessary steps to protect the financial and legal interests of the Community.
In this regard, it should be noted that launching this procedure requires the unanimous assent of the Member States."@en1
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