MADINAH, 8 November — The authorities have adopted strict measures to prevent the entry of Israeli products into Saudi markets. The ministries of commerce, agriculture and water, health, and finance and national economy have been instructed to undertake immediate steps in this regard.
The order stipulates that every consignment should be checked thoroughly so that the actual source of the product can be ascertained. No consignment should be released onto the market before it is confirmed that it did not originate from Israel.
The move comes following the recent seizure of large quantities of Israeli-manufactured products at entry points to the Kingdom.
Instead of exporting straight from Israel to the Kingdom, the foreign exporters re-export goods from neighboring countries under new certificates showing them to have been manufactured there. Cyprus has allegedly become a center for smuggling Israeli goods into the Kingdom.
The ministries of commerce, health, and municipal and rural affairs have been ordered to step up their field inspections in the markets and commercial complexes in addition to the intensified examinations at medical and agricultural laboratories.
Missions in other Arab countries have also been instructed to report attempts to export Israeli goods by companies in their host countries.
The Saudi agencies have observed Turkish exporters violating Saudi regulations by re-exporting Israeli-manufactured products to the Kingdom, a practice that is likely to adversely affect trade between the two countries.
Quality control laboratories in the Kingdom aborted last month an attempt by a German company to export Israeli-manufactured wheat fiber to the Kingdom. The German exporter was subsequently black-listed by the Commerce Ministry.
