We produce food in France and a Tel Aviv retailer wants to stock it. Can we export to Israel ourselves without an Israeli company?

The retailer's purchase order makes this look like a shipping question. It is a licensing question. Israel does not regulate the foreign producer at all; it regulates the person who brings the goods across the border, and that person has to hold a status granted in Israel and be answerable in Israel for what is in the box. Getting that wrong is expensive in a specific way, because the consignment does not get turned back at Marseille. It sits at Ashdod while somebody sorts out who the importer actually is.

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Detailed Answer

Chapter D of the Protection of Public Health (Food) Law 5776-2015 regulates food imports and it opens with two flat prohibitions. Section 50 provides that no person shall import food unless the requirements of the food legislation and of the Law are met, and Section 51(a) provides that no person shall import food unless he holds a valid registered importer certificate, with Section 51(b) adding that the food itself must meet the conditions set out in that certificate. A registered importer is defined as an importer holding a valid certificate attesting to registration in the Importers Registry kept under Section 102(b). Nothing in that scheme contemplates a producer in Lyon acting as the importer of record, which is why the commercial structure has to be settled before the first pallet moves. Beyond that gateway the Law splits food into two tracks. Sensitive food is food that the Minister has declared sensitive under Section 59, or that the Director of Food Services has declared sensitive by temporary declaration under Section 62, and importing certain sensitive food requires prior approval under Section 64 granted to a registered importer. Everything else is regular food, and for it the mechanism is a declaration rather than a licence: under Section 74 the registered importer declares to the Registrar his intention to import a particular regular food, and Section 78 produces an online confirmation of receipt of that declaration. The regulator throughout is the Director of Food Services at the National Food Service of the Ministry of Health.

For a French producer there is a shortcut that non-EU exporters do not have. The Law recognises a proper importer, registered in the Proper Importers Registry under Section 115(b), and Section 79E gives an online confirmation of receipt of a declaration for food imported by that route, measured against the European Union directives listed in Second Schedule A to the Law. In plain terms, food that is lawfully manufactured and marketed in Europe under those directives can enter on the strength of European compliance rather than a separate Israeli technical file, which is the single largest cost saving available to a European exporter and the reason the choice of Israeli partner should be made with the registry status in mind. Three practical points follow for a producer sitting in France. The Israeli side of the arrangement carries the regulatory liability, so a distributor who is not already a registered importer is not a shortcut but a delay; expect three to six months to bring a new Israeli entity onto the Importers Registry before it can lodge its first declaration. Labelling must comply with Israeli requirements in Hebrew, and the responsibility for it sits with the importer, which means your artwork has to be agreed in advance rather than corrected at the port. And tax arrives independently of all of this: Section 2 of the Value Added Tax Law 5736-1975 charges tax on the importation of goods at 18%, so a EUR 50,000 consignment, roughly NIS 200,000, carries about NIS 36,000 of VAT before any customs duty. Kashrut certification is a commercial requirement of the Israeli retail trade rather than a condition of import, but no supermarket chain will list an uncertified product, so treat it as a cost of market entry. Where a shipment has already gone wrong at the border, our answer on an Israeli customs demand for underpaid duty against a foreign importer explains how far back the authorities can reach.

In Practice: Section 51(a) of the Protection of Public Health (Food) Law 5776-2015 bars any import of food without a valid registered importer certificate, evidencing registration in the Importers Registry under Section 102(b), and the regulator is the Director of Food Services at the Ministry of Health. Regular food moves on a Section 74 declaration confirmed online under Section 78; sensitive food declared under Section 59 may need prior approval under Section 64; and an EU producer can use the proper importer route under Sections 115(b) and 79E against the directives in Second Schedule A. Allow three to six months to register a new Israeli entity. Section 2 of the Value Added Tax Law 5736-1975 adds VAT at 18%, about NIS 36,000 on a NIS 200,000 consignment.

When to Consult a Lawyer

• Your Israeli distributor says it will "handle the import" without confirming its registry status. The certificate under Section 51(a) is verifiable, and a consignment shipped against an unregistered importer stops at the port with storage charges running daily.
• Your product may fall within a sensitive food declaration. The difference between the Section 74 declaration track and the Section 64 prior approval track is months of lead time, and it turns on classification questions that should be settled before you accept an order.
• You intend to build the Israeli market yourself rather than through a distributor. Whether the Israeli vehicle is a subsidiary or a branch changes who bears the regulatory liability, the tax position and the ease of getting onto the Importers Registry, and that decision is hard to reverse once trading has begun.

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Speak With an Israeli Attorney

We check whether your intended Israeli partner actually holds a registered importer certificate, classify the product against the sensitive food declarations, and set up and register an Israeli entity where taking the import in-house is the better route.

Contact us for a confidential initial consultation.