1. Power of attorney to a customs agent to perform actions in front of customs:

Please see Explanatory Letter to Authorization for more details and we recommend to carry out power of attorney through the government identification system as soon as possible to ensure we can carry out customs on your behalf.

For an explanation of how to carry out power of attorney through the government identification system, please click here.

2. Importer's affidavit:

From now on, a valid importer's affidavit will be required for any shipment worth more than $5,000. Importer's affidavit could be loaded to government identification system.

Attached is a link to the government identification system.

Attached is a link to the customs website - Suppliers/foreign customers query. If it is an approved economic entity, you must select supplier data that corresponds to the supplier's approved economic entity number.

The importer's affidavits, if previously filled out, are valid regardless of the logistics provider through which the shipment is made.

Starting December 2024 a change of customs requirements for Importers declarations for goods with value higher than 6,000 USD will come into effect.

Up until then, demand was to set an importers declaration separately per supplier.

Starting December 2024, an Importers Declaration will be made according to importers ID or Company registration number. The declaration will be set for all the Importer’s shipments from all the importer’s suppliers. Meaning there will be a change from multiple declarations into single general one.

If a certain shipment carries customs payment, purchase tax or other surcharges that sum in 6% or above, a dedicated importers declaration per the supplier will be required.

If there are any special conditions with a supplier, a dedicated importer declaration will be required per the supplier.

The current existing Importers declarations for existing suppliers will remain in effect for 2 months starting December 23, 2024 ending in February 23, 2025.

Effective February 23, 2025, Importers will be required to create a new importer’s declaration with the customs Global Gate (Sha’ar Olami) following their new format for all future shipments.

We recommend to take action immediately as soon as it becomes available by the Israeli customs.

3. Handling of import and clearance documents:

A. Transfer of release documents to the customs agent - due to the move to paperless customs requires a digitally certified document instead of the physical document. FedEx receives paperwork before the shipment arrives in Israel.

We will take care of transferring the digitally signed paperwork to customs.

B. Packing List - Mandatory for each shipment over one package. From now on, customs enforces and refuses to release shipments without a packing list, if they are over 2 packages. Prepare with the suppliers for the preparation of this paperwork.

Working with a smart card:

From now on, a smart card is not required for a power of attorney and for an importer's affidavit. It is indeed required for "MASLUL" system, in which government permits are issued, and for this importers are required to use a Comsign / Personal ID smart card.

Attached is a link to the Comsign website and the Personal ID website - for the purpose of downloading forms for issuing the smart card.

Saving import documents:

According to the new guidelines, the obligation to keep the import documents for 7 years, applies to the importer.

The above applies to vendor account type and preference document (if applicable). The documents can be saved in two ways:

A. Physical preservation of the original documents.

B. Scan and save the files in a computerized manner according to the rules "for managing a digital archive".