West bank and gaza Country Commercial Guide
Learn about the market conditions, opportunities, regulations, and business conditions in west bank and gaza, prepared by at U.S. Embassies worldwide by Commerce Department, State Department and other U.S. agencies’ professionals
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Import Requirements and Documentation
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Import licenses for the West Bank and Gaza, when required, are issued by the Palestinian Authority (PA). The importer must be a trader registered with the PA and must present a pro-forma invoice. The Paris Protocol mandates that the PA must inform the Israeli Ministry of Industry and Trade of each import request. While the PA may import some items freely, other items are subject to quantitative restrictions (determined by the A1, A2 list) set forth in the Paris Protocol.

Effective January 10, 2018, U.S. exporters to the West Bank are no longer required to provide Israeli authorities a hard copy Certificate of Origin (commonly referred to as the “Green Form” or “Form A”) to qualify for preferential access to the Palestinian market under the U.S.-Israel FTA. Instead, U.S. exporters are required to print and sign a declaration on the invoice regarding U.S. content. American exporters are advised to ensure that they carefully review and understand the language of the FTA’s Rules of Origin Provision before they sign the Invoice Declaration. Please contact Senior Commercial Specialist Assad Barsoum at Assad.Barsoum@trade.gov or phone +972-2-657-2688 to get a copy of the Invoice Declaration guidelines and frequently asked questions.

Some products are subject to testing by the Standards Institute of Israel. In some instances of differing standards, Israeli standards authorities will defer to their Palestinian counterparts on the condition that the importer provides satisfactory assurance that the product(s) in question will remain inside the West Bank and Gaza.

Israel imposes licensing requirements and quantitative restrictions on a wide range of foods and agricultural products. Items subject to quotas – mainly agricultural produce and processed foods – are negotiated annually. The Palestinian share is determined based on estimated consumption requirements and past quota utilization.

All health-related imports, such as food and pharmaceuticals, require approval by both the Israeli Ministry of Health and the Palestinian Ministry of Health, whose standards are nearly identical. However, the Pharmacy Department at the Israeli Ministry of Health has announced that Palestinian pharmaceutical companies are not permitted to import raw materials acting as active ingredients for products that have a single registration in Israel unless the Palestinian companies get approval from the party that registered the related product.

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Global Business Navigator Chatbot Beta

Welcome to the Global Business Navigator, an artificial intelligence (AI) Chatbot from the International Trade Administration (ITA). This tool, currently in beta version testing, is designed to provide general information on the exporting process and the resources available to assist new and experienced U.S. exporters. The Chatbot, developed using Microsoft’s Azure AI services, is trained on ITA’s export-related content and aims to quickly get users the information they need. The Chatbot is intended to make the benefits of exporting more accessible by understanding non-expert language, idiomatic expressions, and foreign languages.

Limitations

As a beta product, the Chatbot is currently being tested and its responses may occasionally produce inaccurate or incomplete information. The Chatbot is trained to decline out of scope or inappropriate requests. The Chatbot’s knowledge is limited to the public information on the Export Solutions web pages of Trade.gov, which covers a wide range of topics on exporting. While it cannot provide responses specific to a company’s product or a specific foreign market, its reference pages will guide you to other relevant government resources and market research. Always double-check the Chatbot’s responses using the provided references or by visiting the Export Solutions web pages on Trade.gov. Do not use its responses as legal or professional advice. Inaccurate advice from the Chatbot would not be a defense to violating any export rules or regulations.

Privacy

The Chatbot does not collect information about users and does not use the contents of users’ chat history to learn new information. All feedback is anonymous. Please do not enter personally identifiable information (PII), sensitive, or proprietary information into the Chatbot. Your conversations will not be connected to other interactions or accounts with ITA. Conversations with the Chatbot may be reviewed to help ITA improve the tool and address harmful, illegal, or otherwise inappropriate questions.

Translation

The Chatbot supports a wide range of languages. Because the Chatbot is trained in English and responses are translated, you should verify the translation. For example, the Chatbot may have difficulty with acronyms, abbreviations, and nuances in a language other than English.

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