Hearings and other public input is being taken in the coming month on a move by Economy and Industry Minister Eli Cohen to amend the Antitrust Law to limit the power of the exclusive importers, who often use that power to block competition by thwarting or reducing the activity of parallel importers.
The amendment will be submitted within the framework of a three-year temporary order, including the possibility of an extension for an additional three years. As part of the ministry's efforts to reduce the cost of living in the Israeli economy, it conducted a study that found that prices in Israel, in selected toiletries, were 48 percent higher than in other countries. It was found that in specific products in which parallel import penetration was evident, price levels declined by about 30 percent.