K A S H R U T . C O M_©

How food importers in Israel use rabbis to block competition

November 23, 2016: The Globes and Haaretz:

"Are parallel imports an effective way of lowering the prices of international food brands in Israel? A few months after parallel imports hit the headlines, difficulties seem to prevent them from becoming a reality. Merchants dealing with parallel imports claim that manufacturers - - influenced by official importers or their Israeli branches - use kosher certificates to prevent imports."
"It seems that while the regulator works to make parallel imports easier, international manufacturers and their official representatives manage to prevent it using simple means and with the indirect support of religious authorities."
The Globes article talked about the difficulties of importing Nutella Finlandia Vodka from kosher plants into Israel and the Haretz article talks about importing Jack Daniels into Israel.
"The Chief Rabbinate of Israel has created an absurd situation in which a single product, which is certified as kosher around the world and produced by the company at a single factory by a single company, can be sold in Israel as kosher only by one company and not by another."