‘Made in the Settlements’ – not all goods that would otherwise be considered Israeli would face EU tariffs

Brussels – EU sanctions against goods from illegal Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories could be nothing more than propaganda. Because with half‑hearted checks, wide loopholes in the rules and in twelve‑star verification systems, there is room for exploiting these gaps to buy goods under preferential tariff regimes rather than at higher duty rates. Strange, yet true. Seventy MEPs from various groups (Socialists, Greens, Liberals, the Radical Left, and non-attached members) have raised an issue to which the Commission has responded clumsily, effectively admitting that problems do exist.

 “If mislabelled, a product coming from an Israeli settlement in the OPTs (occupied Palestinian Territories, ed.) would illegally be granted the preferential tariff treatment set out in the EU-Israel Association Agreement,” the signatories of the parliamentary question say. The Commissioner for Trade, Maroš Šefčovič, responds: “the sole fact that food originating in
the Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian territories is mislabelled as originating in
Israel when presented to EU consumers, does not necessarily entail that the food in question
has received preferential treatment upon its importation.” The fact that it cannot be concluded that the rules have necessarily been circumvented does not rule out the possibility that this may have occurred.

This is also because, Šefčovič continues, “as a rule, the indications of origin in
the labels are incumbent on ‘food business operators’ which are subject to the control by food
authorities.” The producer remains free to declare where the good in question was manufactured, and everything comes down to ‘labels’: a sticker is applied to the merchandise with the postal code and the name of the city or industrial area. On that basis, the applicable tariff regime is determined — preferential, non‑preferential, or increased due to sanctions, as the EU reasoning goes.

 https://www.eunews.it/2015/11/30/israele-ue-diplomazia/ 

The response provided by Šefčovič on behalf of the European Commission is based on the distinction between information on the label and information on preferential origin: the former is intended for consumers and concerns the place of production, composition, ingredients, instructions for use, and manufacturer’s details; the latter is intended for customs authorities and serves to demonstrate that a product complies with the rules of origin laid down in a specific free trade agreement, specifically the EU–Israel agreement. 

However, the fundamental issue remains: how can we ensure that incorrect information does not spread? To explain how trade in Israeli goods with the EU operates under the Association Agreement between the European Union and Israel, Šefčovič refers to another answer he provided to a separate question on the same subject. In April 2026, the Commissioner for Trade admitted that “the Commission does not collect systematically information on goods entering the EU from Israeli settlements via
the Customs Surveillance system.“

In short, it is impossible to know what is really happening, as the answer provided is far from clear. Meanwhile, the question reserved for the end of the 70 MEPs’ inquiry has been completely left unanswered: “Would deliberate mislabelling practices, and the resulting subsequent fraudulent access to the preferential tariff treatment, trigger the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement?” Here, Šefčovič sidesteps the issue.