Israel Matzav

UK supermarkets may be prosecuted for 'mislabeling' products' origin

'Palestinian activists' are seeking the prosecution of UK supermarkets for 'mislabeling' the origin of products that they claim were produced in 'settlements' located outside the 1949 armistice lines as either having come from Israel or from the 'West Bank' (the claim being that the latter term 'mistakenly' leads one to believe that the products were produced by 'Palestinians').

Fruit, wine and cosmetics originating from illegal Israeli settlements are among the goods that lawyers representing Palestinian interests argue are regularly being wrongly labelled, so that buyers might conclude they are actually produced by Palestinians. In a separate issue, they say illegal settlements are also wrongly benefiting from preferential trade agreements with Israel, which are meant only for goods from inside its pre-1967 borders.

"The use of the expression 'West Bank' may in many cases fail to give the consumer the full picture," said barrister Kieron Beal from Matrix Chambers. He added that in other cases, "where goods have come from the occupied Palestinian Territories they should not be labelled as having their place of origin as Israel".

The warnings come as government proposals for implementing new EU rules on product labelling, which make it illegal to deceive consumers, are expected within a month. Departments including the Office of Fair Trading, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have been grappling with the issue. Under UK law it is already illegal to present food products in a way which is "likely to mislead", while European rules include strict measures requiring accurate "country of origin" information to be given.

Concerns about consumers being misled have been compounded by claims that Israeli exporters have benefited from preferential trading terms that allow goods from inside Israel's pre-1967 borders exemption from import duties.

This has to be the first time in recorded human history that consumers are worried about tariffs not being high enough. But then what would you expect from the part of the World that brought us the Nazi attempted genocide just two generations ago. Recall that in France they're even holier: They destroy all Israeli products regardless of the side of the armistice line from which they originate. (Watch the videotape at that link).

But the real problem with the Europeans is that they don't know how to do a proper job of boycotting Israel. So let's show them how. Let's go to the videotape.



Heh.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:07 PM