Brussels, 18/10/2002 (Agence Europe) - The question of rules of origin will be the main point of the EU/Israel Association Council meeting on Monday in Luxembourg (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.8). Both parties, however, should also take stock of cooperation programmes and negotiation agreements, especially in the agricultural and research sector. The EU intends to "very clearly" evoke the question of human rights and respect of minority rights, says one Community source. It should raise the problem of the blockade on Palestinian territories, that Ariel Sharon has pledged to lift according to American information, says the same source.
As stated in yesterday's EUROPE, Europeans expect Israel to present a technical solution for settling the dispute regarding products exported from colonies of the Palestinian territories under the "Made in Israel" label. The EU maintains that such products cannot enjoy preferential customs tariffs granted to Israel in the context of the association, since they do not come from the State of Israel within its internationally recognised borders. The aim of Israel is to gain time until 2005 when a Palestinian State is to be created, putting an end to the problem of border definition. According to the Commission, the "situation cannot last eternally", says one Community source.
If no satisfactory answer to the problem is forthcoming by Monday, two solutions are possible: 1) initiating the dispute settlement mechanism under the association agreement. Both parties would name an arbiter and an international arbiter for settling the dispute; 2) "guarantees" deposited since November 2001 by importers with national customs authorities would be transformed into customs duties for all products imported from Israel whose origin is doubtful. All Member States except Sweden call for a guarantee deposit. Only France, it appears, has already chosen to transform such deposits into customs duties. It is up to the Member States to decide to transform these guarantees into customs duties, but the Commission explains that it has the duty to defend the Community's financial interests. Insisting on the purely technical nature of such a decision, the Commission seeks refuge behind a ruling from the Court of Justice, which had found it guilty of failing to secure respect of the import rules governing imports of television sets from Turkey.
Israel for its part invoked the case of the Western Sahara, saying that the EU does not apply the same rules for all cases of uncertain border territories. The Israeli government seems, however, to have its reasons for accelerating settlement of the conflict. It is said to be hoping to benefit from the rules on "pan European" accumulation which would allow it to combine the origin of its products with those of the countries applying for membership. According to the Commission's lawyers, such a clause could only be included in the EU/Israel agreement if the other problems regarding rules of origin were resolved.