Amid a wave of government moves seeking to curb the wave of price hikes in Israel, Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman called on US and EU regulators to ease the bureaucracy involved in importing goods into Israel so as to increase competition.
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Channel 12 News reported Tuesday that, in a highly unusual move, Lieberman sent letters to Chair of the US Federal Trade Commission Lina M. Khan and Executive Vice President of the European Commission Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy in the 27-nation bloc, asking them to tackle what he described as "unfair and anti-competitive practices by producers importing goods into Israel."
The government has been employing various measures to combat the rising cost of living in Israel, where the consumer goods market – especially foods – is controlled by a handful of companies – and the convoluted regulation by the US and EU is preventing Israel from widely opening the marker to competition
Lieberman, whose ministry has relaxed import regulations as part of the effort to allow new players into the consumer goods sector, argued that the current American and European regulations contributed to the high costs of goods, and prevent Israel from decentralizing the sector.
According to Channel 12 News, Lieberman asked Khan and Vestager to allow producers to set prices as they see fit, which would allow them to enter the market and compete with other importers.
He also urged the three's antitrust authorities to cooperate more closely and "share information in order to protect consumers from unfair pricing practices."
Focusing specifically on parallel imports – by which retailers and new importers buy products directly from the original producers rather than from the main importer – Lieberman said the practice imposed "undue hurdles on bringing consumer products to the Israeli market" and asserted that they have "contributed to restrictions on competition in the Israeli market," something that "places Israeli consumers at a disadvantage."
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