Israel: Agricultural Biotechnology Annual
As of July 2015, Israel does not have a policy that restricts the use of imported biotech commodities or derivative products. Existing regulations do not permit local commercial production of biotech crops in Israel but allows their growth for research purposes. Israeli regulations also allow biotech products to be imported, sold, and used in the production of food and pharmaceuticals in Israel. In October, 2013 new draft regulations announced by Israel's Ministry of Health called "Public Health Regulations (Food) (Novel foods) 5773 - 2013" (G/TBT/N/ISR/710) were notified to the WTO, with the US, Canada and other countries submitting comments. The draft regulation has not been approved by the Israeli Government; FAS/Tel Aviv expects that it will be approved in 2016. Once approved, the labeling regulation will come into effect one year after the publication in Israel’s Official Gazette; however, imported biotech products must be noted on the import permit once the regulation is published in the Gazette.
