Data released last week by the Foreign Trade Division of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor showed that Israel’s exports to Egypt and Jordan in January-May 2006 increased, thanks to the Qualifying Industrial Zone (QIZ) export agreements with Israel's two neighboring countries.
Exports to Jordan rose 8% to US$53.1 million in January-May 2006 from US$49.2 million in the corresponding period in 2005.
Exports to Egypt rose 93% to US$48.7 million in January-May 2006, from US$25.2 million in the corresponding period in 2005.
Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor foreign division director Boaz Hirsch said that the main goal of the QIZ agreements is to promote regional, commercial and industrial cooperation between the USA, Israel and her two neighbors. Jordan,Israel and the USA signed a trade/industrial co-operation deal in 1997.
Under the faremwork of the Israeli Jordanian agreement, the world's first Qualifying Industrial Zone (QIZ) was established in Irbid, Jordan, offering duty-free access to the United States.The products processed in a QIZ receive duty-free treatment in the United States, provided they meet the rules of origin requirements established in Section 334 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act.
Egypt and Israel agreed on Dec. 14 2004 a trade/industrial co-operation deal. The two states and the US signed a protocol to set up seven Qualified Industrial Zones (QIZs), where goods would gain free access to US markets provided that 35% of their inputs comes from co-operation between Egyptian and Israeli companies - these constitute an advanced step towards a free trade pact between the US and Egypt.
Rules of origin for U.S. Imports of Products from QIZs
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The article must be wholly the growth, product or manufacturer of a QIZ or, if it contains foreign materials, must be substantially transformed into a new or different article of commerce in a QIZ.
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The article must be imported directly from a QIZ.
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At least 35% of the total value of the article must consist of the cost or value of the materials produced in the QIZ, plus the direct costs of processing operations performed in the QIZ (up to 15% of the total value of the article produced from U.S.-made materials may count toward the 35% requirement).
