APD | EU obliges retailers to label Israeli products from settlement areas

By APD writer Adtiya Nugraha

The European Union’s top court issued a ruling Tuesday that obliges retailers in EU countries to identify products made in Israeli settlements with special labels.

“Foodstuffs originating in the territories occupied by the State of Israel must bear the indication of their territory of origin,” the European Court of Justice said in a statement.

The Luxembourg-based court said that when products come from an Israeli settlement, their labeling must provide an “indication of that provenance.”

The EU has consistently spoken out against Israeli settlement expansion, saying it undermines the hopes for a two-state solution.

Responding the EU labeling policy, Israel said that the labeling is unfair and discriminatory. It claims that other countries involved in territorial disputes are not similarly sanctioned.

Israel captured the West Bank and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and began settling both areas shortly afterward. The Palestinians claim both areas as parts of a future state, a position that has global support.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)