Steinitz abolishes customs on hundreds of items

The directive is one of the Trajtenberg Committee’s recommendations; applies to both industrial and consumer items.

By GUY KATSOVICH
Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz_311 (photo credit: Reuters)
Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz_311
(photo credit: Reuters)
Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz on Wednesday signed a directive abolishing customs duties on hundreds of imports, beginning on January 1, 2012. The directive applies to industrial and consumer items and will cost NIS 400 million a year in revenues, a quarter of total annual customs duties on these items.
The directive is one of the Trajtenberg Committee’s recommendations.
The Finance Ministry said the directive would apply to consumer items, including baby carriages, toys, clothing, home appliances, cosmetics, sewing machines, tires, leather handbags and luggage, glassware and medications. It will also apply to raw materials for industry, such as chemical compounds and wood.
“The canceling of customs duties on a long list of products consumed by Israeli families and raw materials used by local industry is an important contribution to the easing of the cost of living for the country’s people,” Steinitz said. “Most of these products are not manufactured in Israel, and reducing the customs on them will not affect domestic industry.”