Agricultural Products: Israel

Dr. Starkey
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many consignments of agricultural produce imported from Israel and checked by HM Revenue and Customs were identified as originating in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories in the last 12 months; and how many of those consignments were originally represented as originating in Israel.

Mr. Timms
A total of six consignments have been identified as originating in an Israeli settlement. All of them were claiming Israeli preferential origin.

Dr. Starkey
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many consignments of agricultural produce imported from Israel and Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories were checked by HM Revenue and Customs to verify their place of origin in the last 12 months; and how many of such consignments were of (a) avocados, (b) herbs, (c) dates, (d) peppers and (e) tahini or halva.

Mr. Timms
Since July 2008 HM Revenue and Customs has undertaken 49 physical examinations of fresh produce, including avocado pears, dates and herbs, imported under the EU-Israel Agreement. 10 examinations were undertaken in respect of avocados. No investigations were undertaken in respect of consignments of pepper and tahini or halva. Separate figures are not available for the number of examinations in respect of dates and herbs. Two labelling irregularities were identified for herbs.