Overview

The Standards Institution of Israel (SII) is the only statutory body in Israel that develops and establishes standards. The Standards Law of 1953 mandates SII’s responsibility for the preparation, publication of technical specifications and standards for products and services, which are produced locally or imported. Today, the SII incorporates standardization, testing, conformity assessment, product certification, management system certification and training activities under one roof. It has laboratories in almost all technological areas, providing testing and inspection services to industry and commerce, as well as regulatory services to government. Overseeing the SII’s policy is the Commissioner of Standards at the Ministry of Economy and Industry.

The supreme body of the SII is the General Assembly, comprised of 70 members from the following sectors: manufacturing, construction, commerce, services, trades, consumers, engineering associations, universities, and government. The General Assembly annually elects a Board of Directors and President. The SII’s Standardization Division coordinates the preparation of standards through the work of hundreds of standardization committees that include volunteer representatives from all sectors of the Israeli economy. The adoption of Israeli standards is voluntary; however, standards may be declared mandatory by the relevant government ministry in the interest of public health and safety or protection of the environment.

As the mandated national standards body, the SII represents Israel in the International Organization for Standards (ISO) and the International Electromechanical Commission (IEC). The SII has also become an affiliate of the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and the European Committee for Electro Technical Standardization (CENELEC), though it has not joined any technical committees.

Israeli legislation mandates the adoption of multiple, proven international standards whenever possible to maximize benefits to the Israeli consumer of a competitive market. Historically, Israel’s standards policy has had clear preference for European standards, which results in a disadvantage for U.S. products.

In 2021, the Ministry of Economy and Industry signed “An Israel Import and Export Decree (Import Groups)” which updates Israel’s Import Groups Regime and eases the conformity assessment requirements for imported products subject to Israel Mandatory Standards.

The comprehensive reform includes significant changes in two issues:

First, the transfer of an extensive range of standards to declaration-based import (instead of the need for an Israeli laboratory approval). There are a limited number of standards that will remain in the strictest import regime, which requires a full model approval and a check done by a certified Israeli lab every shipment.

Second, the “international track” which enables the importation of products that comply with an international standard that is also accepted by the Israeli government and poses no physical or safety threat to Israeli consumers. Standards that are not applicable for the “international track” are listed in annex 3 of the amended standards law – a list that is supposed to decrease in the future.

Importers declaration needs to be based on a test report issued by a laboratory which is accredited by an accreditation body under ILAC. This reform makes it much easier to import many products based on an importer declaration. In order to make sure that the public safety is not neglected, the reform includes a comprehensive enforcement plan.

For more information, please contact Commercial Specialist Christina Azar at Christina.azar@trade.gov

Standards

The Standards Institute of Israel (SII) is the sole organization that develops standards in Israel. On a yearly basis the SII prepares its work plan that includes a list of standards they plan to develop. Members of the various technical committees, as well as government ministries, provide input.

Testing, Inspection and Certification

The Standards Institute of Israel (SII) operates product and system certification programs. Use of the Standards Mark is generally voluntary but Israeli law mandates that certain classes of products must be certified before they are sold. The Standards Mark program operates in accordance with EN 45011. To qualify for the Standards Mark, a product must conform to the requirements of the applicable standards and be manufactured in a plant with an approved quality assurance system, similar to ISO 9002.

The Standards Mark Board appoints technical committees of representatives from the public and private sectors in various technological areas, which meet regularly to evaluate the findings of the test reports and quality assessment reports. These committees report their findings to the Licensing Committee, which is responsible for granting or canceling a license.

Once a license is issued, follow-up inspections of the product and quality assurance review is performed. These inspections are performed by laboratory personnel and certified auditors. In addition, samples of the product are taken several times a year to ensure continuous compliance of the product with the relevant standard or standards. To ease the process for foreign manufacturers wishing to enter the Standards Mark program, agreements have been reached with independent foreign testing and certification organizations to perform testing and inspection service on behalf of SII. The SII has signed Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRA) with the following U.S. organizations:

In August 2023, the Ministry of Economy announced a new reform to ease the import process further. Under the proposed reform, it will no longer be necessary to submit applications to the Standards Institute or recognized laboratories. Instead, importers can directly submit a declaration to customs.Once the declaration is submitted, a risk assessment procedure will be conducted, and some shipments may undergo compliance checks to ensure they meet the required standards or fulfill the product portfolio requirements.

It’s important to note that this reform, as per the proposed wording, does not alter the essential requirements . Rather, it simplifies the procedure, saving time and reducing additional costs associated with submitting requests to the institute or testing laboratories. This includes the cost of laboratory testing and the waiting time for approval from those laboratories. Should this reform be approved by the Knesset, it is scheduled to be implemented by the first quarter of 2024.

Use ePing to review proposed technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures 

The ePing SPS&TBT platform (https://epingalert.org/), or “ePing”, provides access to notifications made by WTO Members under the Agreements on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), distributed by the WTO from January 16, 1995 to present.  ePing is available to all stakeholders free of charge and does not require registration unless the user wishes to receive customized e-mail alerts.  Use it to browse notifications on past as well as new draft and updated product regulations, food safety and animal and plant health standards and regulations, find information on trade concerns discussed in the WTO SPS and TBT Committees, locate information on SPS/TBT Enquiry Points and notification authorities, and to follow and review current and past notifications concerning regulatory actions on products, packaging, labeling, food safety and animal and plant health measures in markets of interest. 

Notify U.S., operated and maintained by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) since 2003 to distribute and provide access to notifications (and associated draft texts) made under the WTO TBT Agreement for US stakeholders, has reached its end of life.  Per obligation under the TBT Agreement, each WTO Member operates a national TBT (and an SPS) Enquiry Point.   National TBT Enquiry Points are authorized to accept comments and official communications from other national TBT Enquiry Points, which are NOT part of the WTO or the WTO Secretariat.  All comment submissions from U.S. stakeholders, including businesses, trade associations, U.S domiciled standards development organizations and conformity assessment bodies, consumers, or U.S. government agencies on notifications to the WTO TBT Committee should be sent directly to the USA WTO TBT Inquiry Point.  Refer to the comment guidance at https://tsapps.nist.gov/notifyus/data/guidance/guidance.cfm for further information.

Contact Information

Contact Information:

U.S. Department of Commerce EMEA Regional Standards Attache 

Cara Lofaro; Cara.Lofaro@trade.gov

The Standards Institution of Israel 

Mrs. Dalia Yarom, Director, Standardization Division
Tel: +972-3-6465180; Fax: + 972-3-6412762; Email: dyarom@sii.org.il