Israel protests new EC labelling guidelines

The European Commission has introduced new labelling guidelines for products produced in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, drawing anger from Israeli authorities, who called the move 'discriminatory'.

The measures, published on Wednesday, require that producers must explicitly label products that come from settlements built on land occupied by Israel if they are sold in the European Union.

The interpretive notice of the new measures said: "The European Union, in line with international law, does not recognise Israel's sovereignty over the territories occupied by Israel since June 1967, namely the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and does not consider them to be part of Israel's territory, irrespective of their legal status under domestic Israeli law.

"The Union has made it clear that it will not recognise any changes to pre-1967 borders, other than those agreed by the parties to the Middle East Peace Process."

The interpretive notice also makes it clear that it is not a new law, rather it reflects the commission's understanding of relevant EU legislation.

The notice identifies a distinction between products that should be labelled, namely mandatory and voluntary.

Mandatory indication of origin or labelling includes products such as fresh fruits, vegetables, wine, honey, olive oil, eggs, poultry and organic products as well as cosmetics.

The notice makes it clear that labelling must be correct and not misleading. It adds that enforcement of this notice is the responsibility of individual states.

The move drew an angry response from the Israeli government, with the foreign ministry issuing a statement denouncing the EU measure.

The Israeli government had strongly lobbied European countries and leaders, arguing against the labelling of Israeli products. In the statement, the Israeli foreign ministry called the EU's decision "exceptional" and "discriminatory".

Israel has occupied the Palestinian territories of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem since the 1967 war.